Troublesome Game
by KisaragiKei
Summary: Shika Protag. He wanted a life of complete mediocrity. Hit the rank of Chunin at a common age of his peers, attain Jonin for the sake of reaching the minimum of his Clan's needs and fear that he'd marry a girl just like his mother. He could only stare blankly at the black wall between his eyes and the S ranked secret in front of him. F!Naruto Uzumaki Lv 1, Rank ?. "Troublesome"
1. Chapter 1

**I wrote this in both stress and passion. I might make this monthly. Thoughts?**

* * *

In all of his adolescent life, Shikamaru could clearly remember the first word he ever uttered. He immediately regretted it.

The memory was like a glass of spring water, he was barely a year old at the time. Held by his father, he watched the man play the game that sealed his fate. Shogi was a time honored Nara tradition, and all were to be at least proficient in it's arts and philosophy.

Shikamaru vividly remembered his mother march down the hallway in the clan head's abode. A deep scowl marred her face as she scolded and nagged the man about going to work. To be fair, even at his age, Shikamaru inherited the trademark intelligence of a Nara. Despite not understanding what his father did, he was proud of the man being relied on by others. He was important, doing an important job.

It was also the reason why he understood even with his underdeveloped brain that important jobs needed as much rest and relaxation as possible. Stress would leave the man cranky, he should know. He was always like that when he couldn't get his naps after milk.

Maybe it was because his father never argued back or protested when his mother was mad for no real reason. Maybe it was the fact that his father eventually agreed and stood up to go back to work even when the creatures with white masks didn't appear to call for him did Shikamaru feel a sudden urge to defend him.

He had no idea what to say back then. The words that his mother kept going on and on with 'mama' and 'papa' wouldn't help at all. He knew what those words meant, he didn't need them in this situation. They wouldn't convey what he thought about the whole situation. When he was given to be held in his mother's arms, Shikamaru's faint hair on the crown of his head was gently ruffled. His eyes widened as much as a baby could do when in front of him appeared a near black void. To his baby mind, it looked like a sheet of water always at the surface of a pond.

 **Nara Shikaku  
** **Level: ?  
** **Title: Head of the Nara Clan  
** **Title: Jonin Commander  
** **Title: -  
** **Class: Shinobi, Jonin  
** **Rank A**

 **Status:  
** _ **Title Effect**_ _ **: Nara Clan Head:**_ Conflict with Berserk, Stress, Silence, Slow, Haste  
 _ **Title Effect**_ _ **: Jonin Commander:**_ Conflict with Fatigue, Stress, Silence, Slow, Haste  
 _ **Fatigue (Major):**_ 25% Attribute Decrease, 12.50% Ability Effectiveness Decrease, 12.50% Force Sleep  
 _ **Stress (Moderate):**_ 25% Ability Effectiveness Decrease, 12.50% Berserk, 6.25% HP Loss/Minute  
 _ **Silence (Minor):**_ Element Deficiency, 15% Chance ability failure  
 _ **Confuse (Moderate):**_ 12.50% Attribute Decrease, Motor Function Impairment  
 _ **Slow:**_ Conflict with Haste  
 _ **Haste:**_ Conflict with Slow

"Troublesome"

Regardless of what the word ment to him, Shikamaru cringed when his mother yelled out not so subtly when he uttered his first word. In his defence, he only said it because of the weird black see-through image. Pudgy fingers moved forward, flailing in a not so successful attempt of removing the thing. They misunderstood him.

 **Status Update!**

 **Shikaku, Gained Pride (Moderate):** Reduce all negative status effects by 1 rank. Silence removed  
 **Yoshino, Gained Pride (Minor):** Berserk, Stress, Fatigue Removed

His father, which was Shikaku by what the words somehow conveyed to him smirked ever so slightly. Hands quickly exchanged his body from the mother to the father again. The two adult quickly went off into an argument at least when it came to his mother's own recollection. Shikamaru knew better, he was there. It felt more like a one-sided massacre on his end.

His mother went on and on how he got tainted by the nature of the Nara clan the moment he was handed to his father. The influences of the laid back Shikaku were naturally absorbed like the sponge used to clean dishes after a meal. She went so far as to say if he was so naturally inclined to his dad, why not have some father son bonding?

Shikamaru felt he was in a world of hurt now, he wasn't going to be able to nap anymore and it seemed that his word was so interesting that he was going to be taken to where his father worked, since the old man naturally agreed with a smirk.

Just great.

Sadly however, this lead to the second memory Shikamaru ever remembered vividly. The cold winds of a new season of autumn came through. It was the perfect time for naps, the cold air would be warmed by the suns rays while he would be snuggled into blankets at the open courtyard of their home.

Instead, he was taken not so leisurely to where his father worked. Years laters, he would realize it was the hokage tower, and the old man holding onto an equally small bundle of a baby was the third hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The conversation that the adults had when they greeted each other were too much for him to bother understanding. The only thing in his head at the time were what the black abominations blurred in front of him meant.

 **Sarutobi Hiruzen  
** **Level: ?  
** **Title: Hokage  
** **Title: Head of the Sarutobi Clan  
** **Title: -  
** **Class: Shinobi  
** **Rank S**

 **Status** :  
 _ **Title Effect:**_ ?  
 _ **Title Effect:**_ ?  
 **Fatigue (Minor):** 12.50% Attribute Decrease, 6.25.% Ability Effectiveness Decrease, 3.125% Force Sleep  
 **Stress (Moderate):** 25% Ability Effectiveness Decrease, 12.50% Berserk, 6.25% HP Loss/Minute  
 **Berserk (Minor):** ?  
 **Fear (Minor):** ?

 **Uzumaki Naruto  
** **Level: 1  
** **Title: ?  
** **Title: ?  
** **Title: -  
** **Class: ?  
** **Rank ? (?)**

 **Status** :  
 _ **Title Effect:**_ ?  
 _ **Title Effect:**_ ?  
 **Poison:** ?  
 **Stress:** ?  
 **Curse:** ?  
 **Fear:** ?

There was one obvious thing Shikamaru would always deny, even years later to his friends and family. That one thing was curiosity; While one would ignore it or let sleeping dogs lie, Shikamaru was different. Anything that peaked his curiosity enough would nag at him, and _**this**_ was a challenge. This Shikamaru knew even before he could read.

Why did the baby in front of him have a so many more of those weird squiggly marks than any other person he looked at? Besides that, the words that were usually on adults like his father earlier were everywhere on the baby. Other kids that he met before whenever his mom would bring him in the middle of naps never had these things. What was the whole Rank ? (?) thing too?

He didn't like this. Not one bit.

Idly, he could easily hear tidbits of the conversation from the two adults. The hushed words barely registered but he only feel a sudden wrongness from it… somehow.

"You're not the first clan asking to take Naruto under their wing."

"We should honor both the Yondaime and his wife's sacrifice, let alone Naruto's."

"I know… but I cannot allow Naruto to be taken in under any person or house. It can be seen as a political move internally."

Whatever they were saying, Shikamaru stopped from pulling the effort to hear more. A ruffling of cloth was heard in his child ears that broke his thoughts. A head emerged from the bundle and out came the brightest color he had ever seen on a person. It was blinding, like the sun shined at a midday naptime. Big sky blue eyes opened up, widened when the baby got a look at his own dark brown orbs.

Somehow he could tell they looked at him in apprehension. The mouth curled together in a ugly visage that reminded him of the cries that other babies would do, personally he never cried. With quick thinking for one his age, Shikamaru raised up an arm, pudgy fingers landed on top of the other baby's head.

The hushed noise around him went silent. A tension so fragile that the wind hitting the windows could break it into tiny pieces encompassed everyone but the two babies. He ignored it all, focused on the other baby that was about to cry. No way was he going to witness something so troublesome like a baby crying. Logically he chose the option with the least amount of effort in the long run.

Naruto or what both the black glass thing and the adults said it named, widened their eye's even more. Shikamaru never knew eyes could go that big. Naruto's gaze stopped at his own face a tad too long than he could feel comfortable. It was only by a stroke of luck that the other baby's gaze left him to a shiny little object held in his hand.

It was a little trinket thing made of a shiny stuff that both his mother and father gave him to hold onto. Branches that were inside a circle. They looked alot like those things that were on top of the head of deers. Antlers if he remembered his mother cooed it to him weeks ago.

 **Oh no.**

Shikamaru could tell when a baby liked something another one had. Their eyes would sparkle and stare at it for hours on end. A flash of unease grew from his heart. The baby wanted his shiny!

As if the other could sense his unease, Naruto looked up at him. He couldn't hold back when big doe eyes looked at him with the same sparkle that the other saw in the trinket. It wasn't much that he could do, The adults were oddly quiet and he already made the first move for contact by touching the other baby on the head. He never did that with any of the other babies that he met.

Tentatively, he put in even more effort by forcing the hand with the trinket towards Naruto. The shiny antlers dangled off of his palm when he heard a sigh from the adult. Whatever they were doing, he ignored them. It wasn't his fault! This baby was just so persuasive.

It took a few moments of him having to leave the trinket between the two. Slowly, Naruto reach out with a hand and grabbed it, he let go and went back to trying to get comfortable again.

 **Status Update!**

 **Hiruzen, Gained Pride (Moderate):** All Status Debuffs Reduced by 1, Fatigue, Berserk, Fear Removed  
 **Shikaku** , **Gained Pride (Major):** All Status Debuffs Removed  
 **Naruto** , ?  
 **ANBU Protective Detail, Gained Respect (?):** ?

"It looks like the start of a beautiful relationship. Don't you think so, Shikaku?" He could only stare while those words went in one ear and out the other, stupefied at the blazing smile Naruto had when he gave the trinket over. This was not what he was hoping for.

 **Missions Accepted!**

 **Open Secret  
** **A Kit in the Wilderness  
** **The Forest Sanctuary  
** **Of Yin and Yang**

Years later, Naruto still wore the deer bracelet he gave away, Even during the training with Jiraiya. Not that Naruto needed training, _**He**_ was Naruto's teacher.


	2. Chapter 2

**Mission Objective Update!**

 **Personal Mission**

 _ **The Nara Traditions - Ongoing  
**_ **Objective 1: Training  
** The energies of Yin and Yang are all around you. It's proof is the earth that you live on. They are the ultimate principles of life and nature. They do not constrain themselves to specific meanings yet they are always dualistic of each other. If Yin is the night, Yang is the day. Yin the spirit, and Yang the body. One cannot be Yin and stray from Yang. The Nara are at their best, attuned with the nature of Yin the most out of the couple. Nara traditions require their own to be attuned to Yin more than any other. The time of the night, when the moon is at its peak is when Yin is at the most affluent.

 _Train for two hours during the time frame where Yin is most powerful, daily. [6PM-6AM]  
_ _Compensate the lack of Yin energies during the day by setting your body and spirit to hibernation and meditation. Rest when needed. [6AM-6PM]  
_ _Learn the Nara Taijutsu Katas_

 **Special Objective 1: Responsibilities of an Heir  
** The responsibilities of an heir are much different then regular clansmen and women. The heir is one that has the most contact with outside forces and they are to be looked at by both those of the clan and those that are not. You are an example of what the Clan is and what they stand for.

 _Understand Clan Politics  
_ _Act in the beliefs and virtues of your clan regardless if your peers do not believe in it.  
_ _Have knowledge in everything your clan does or specializes._

 **Special Objective 2: ?**

 **Reward: ?**

Shikamaru groaned lowly when he felt a nudge on his chest. His father, Shikaku, was seen through half-lidded eyes, he grimaced while the man smirked in response. A silent question was sent over by a raised eyebrow. It was three in the morning and by Nara traditions, everyone woke up around that time.

The Nara didn't want their image changed from being lazy and apathetic in the village, and to keep it that way, these traditions were done in secret. They may not by as strict as the Hyugas and Uchihas, nor were they as laid back as normal clanless citizens. The Nara removed much of their traditions that they believed had no part in modern society like the Uchihas' belief in women, but what they did keep, they put every effort into fulfilling their duties. It was for both the safety and prosperity of their people.

Shikamaru was integrated into the traditions of his clan on his fourth birthday. The Nara gave him so much freedom, it wasn't much to ask for him to do something back. He still wasn't used to it though. It took him around ten to fifteen minutes for him to change his clothes and prepare himself to go outside.

"Scan", His whisper was faint, so faint the birds chirping in the morning covered it like a fog. The target of his words were meant for his father in front of him. They both set themselves in the most basic of the Nara taijutsu stances. Since he was the younger and needed to be trained, he was given the freedom to attack first.

 **Nara Shikaku  
** **Level: 72  
** **Title: Head of the Nara Clan  
** **Title: Jonin Commander  
** **Title: -  
** **Class: Shinobi, Jonin  
** **Rank A**

 **Attributes:  
** **Strength: 70** _ **[84]  
**_ **Dexterity: 77** _ **[92]  
**_ **Constitution: 56** _ **[67]  
**_ **Intelligence: 81** _ **[97]  
**_ **Wisdom: 97** _ **[116]  
**_ **Charisma: 71** _ **[85]**_

 **Status:  
** _ **Rested:**_ Debuffs less likely to be effective, 5% Damage increase, Cooldown two hours  
 _ **Title Effect, Nead of the Nara Clan:**_ 10% Increase to all Attributes, 15% Increase in ability effectiveness  
 _ **Title Effect, Jonin Commander:**_ 10% Increase to All attributes, 10% Increase in ability effectiveness, +5% Experience gain, Command over Konoha's military forces

To Shikaku, experience was key to understanding most of the Clans' techniques. It was by this type of thinking that even at such a young age, Shikamaru had to feel what both an attacker and a defender would experience to know the core elements if their taijutsu.

There were few that knew the origins of their method of fighting and since the Nara clan were known for their mid to long range ninjutsu arts, even fewer fought against their taijutsu. The Hyuga were renowned by their Gentle fist and the Uchiha had their Sharingan. If shinobi or samurai defeated their prized shadow manipulation, how would a Nara defend themselves?

Shikamaru went forward to act. He cringed while doing so as he hated attacking. It was too much effort and left him open for a response, he preferred to be the one reacting instead. A fist aimed low yet it bent slightly upwards for the rib cage of a much larger opponent. A flick of the wrist from his father deflected the attack right before he moved his feet just slightly forward. His own palm deflected the swing from an open hand made to look like a sword.

In an instant Shikamaru was on the grown. His stance was broken by a quick sweep from his father's leg. Knowing the spar wasn't over, Shikamaru spun his waist to deflect any oncoming attack while using the momentum to get himself up again.

He continued again with a fist, Shikaku smirked as the man realized it was a faint to make an upward shot. The goatee shifted from the contact of the back of his palm. Shikamaru leaned inward with a push from his back leg and used it's momentum for a sweep to knock the man down. Instead the man countered with a shift of his own legs, one spun on its heel while another slid on the dirt. He blocked the man's kick before it contacted into his face.

The two backed a step while exchanging strikes. The sounds of flesh hitting flesh echoed off again when he deflected a curled fist with an open palm. Shikamaru grew agitated once his strikes were veered off into another direction by pushes from his father's arms. The movements were so gentle yet effected his attacks so well that there had to be some trick.

He was thrown a few minutes later, signalling the end of the session. He heard the man's comments after his pushed himself up from the ground.

"Usually we would use either a defensive form in case of other attackers or go straight to a shadow possession jutsu. You're a bit small for now but I'll start teaching you throws tomorrow. You've improved."

The Nara were known for their shadow manipulation, but the common response was to get into their personal space fast, overwhelm them with brute force, skill, or numbers. Their taijutsu was built to counteract this. It primarily focused on short bursts of energy when it came to direct combat mixed in with throws and joint locks before and after deflecting force that was aimed after them. Legs and footwork were the basis of their style as it was built for multiple, more powerful opponents.

"We Nara never involved ourselves in the Warring States. Remember this Shikamaru, the Nara were not originally either a mercenary or shinobi clan."

He gave his father a weird look. Silently questioning with a raised eyebrow. If they weren't a shinobi clan, what were they? They were too lazy to be samurai or even a noble house. In fact, Nobles would probably be disgusted by their own practices, or lack there of one. He narrowed his eyes when his father looked at him with a raised eyebrow as well. The man smirked when he responded jokingly, "When you're older."

"Troublesome"

 **Mission Update!**

 **Mission Reward: 200XP, 2000 Ryo**

 **Level up! [4-5]  
** **Str: 18-19 [+1]  
** **Dex: 17-18 [+1]  
** **Con: 16-17 [+1]  
** **Int: 19-20 [+1]  
** **Wis: 17-18 [+1]  
** **Cha: 19-20 [+1]**

 **Gained 4 Attribute Points  
** **16 Unused Attribute Points**

 **Gained 1 Perk Point  
** **1 Unused Perk Point**

 **Skill Learned!  
** **Nara Taijutsu Offensive Forms**

 **Skill Up!  
** **Nara Taijutsu Offensive Forms Lv.2**

 **Skill Up!  
** **Nara Stances Lv.3**

 **XP: 0/500  
** **Currency: 4500 Ryo**

 **Encyclopedia Update!  
** **Nara Clan Updated!**

"Oh no! You're not going back to sleep!" His mother's voice forced him to hold back a groan. He was already halfway into the house. He wanted to go back to sleep and hoped that he'd be sneaky enough to run back to his bed without his mother finding out.

With his head turned back to where the voice came from, Nara Yoshino just finished her own training session. Even while married into the clan, she had a duty as both a shinobi and the wife to a clan member to follow their traditions. If they as a people were to be massacred or spread out by unseen forces who would carry on with the clan's traditions? He coughed out as a cover for his word. His mother took it as a misunderstanding, she thought it was aimed at her.

"Scan"

 **Nara Yoshino  
** **Level: 40  
** **Title: Nara Clan  
** **Title: -  
** **Title: -  
** **Class: Shinobi, Reserved Forces (Chunin)  
** **Rank C**

 **Attributes:  
** **Strength: 60 [63]  
** **Dexterity: 50 [52]  
** **Constitution: 45 [47]  
** **Intelligence: 75 [78]  
** **Wisdom: 66 [69]  
** **Charisma: 63 [66]**

 **Status:  
** _ **Rested:**_ Debuffs less likely to be effective. 5% Damage increase, Cooldown two hours  
 _ **Title Effect, Nara Clan:**_ 5% increase to all attributes, 5% increase in ability effectiveness

"Be a dear and go have some fun outside. In fact, maybe you can feed some of the deer after a little shopping while you're at it." A sickening smile appeared out of his mother's face. He had the urge to say no but he knew it wasn't a request. If he tried as to retort even a peep, he knew she would give him more things to do.

 **Mission Accepted!**

 _ **Exploring Fawn  
**_ _ **Rank D  
**_ **Objective 1: Explore Konohagakure no Sato  
** **Objective 2: Purchase at least one item before you come back  
** **Objective 3: Do not sleep during the mission**

 **Option 1: Explore the entirety of Konoha  
** **Option 2: Only move in between clan compounds  
**

 **Option 1 Reward: 150 EXP, -1500 Ryo, Special Missions Path 1-4 Open  
** **Option 2 Reward: 200 EXP, -500 Ryo, Special Missions Path 3-4 Locked  
** **Failure: No EXP or Currency. Special Missions Path 1-4 Locked**

There it was. Honestly, Shikamaru was always irked by the gift that he had ever since he was born. He thought about telling it to his family but thought otherwise once he learned that his clan didn't have anything like a Kekkei Genkai. He wasn't even sure if it was one either, discreetly paging over books from the clan libraries gave him nothing but new skills and knowledge for the thing's encyclopedia but that was it. No, he was going to keep this to himself. Maybe one day he'd tell someone, but not now. The game of his confirmed it was a command.

Before he could say anything, his mother already left to go back inside while his father smirked slightly. A small wad of Ryo was handed to him before the man went inside, spending money. What a drag.

It was a drag, a troublesome mission but he wasn't going to say no. The mission itself peaked his interest. No other mission he had before as far as he could remember directly confirmed or denied future missions for him. It was always 'help out with carrying things' or 'stay awake for three hours' and 'get Shikaku to teach Shogi'.

This mission had a title. An actual title unlike where other missions were just rewordings of the objective. It also had defined rewards and some of them negative as well. Previous missions had positive rewards, even the failure effects weren't all that bad. This… would block sections of his own not Kekkei Genkai!

"Interesting" If his parents had heard him, they would have been more than surprised. Shikamaru never found anything interesting to him other than Shogi or the clouds. He went off to explore then. Curious about what he might encounter.

The sounds of travelers and Konoha citizens bustled around him during the late morning of his exploration. He ignored the calls of merchants and storefronts selling their wares, he wasn't focused on them. His mid height ponytail swished as he walked at a slow pace, the front of his hair wasn't long enough to pull back and because of that, they framed his face and forehead slightly. His eyes looked much like his clan, narrowed and unfocused to the unsuspecting.

His mother's D ranked mission was a blessing in disguise. It gave him plenty alone time for him to get to know his ability a bit more intimately. He needed to plot out what everything was, understand how leveling worked and especially what all the numbers meant.

"Profile"

 **Nara Shikamaru  
** **Health: 120/120  
** **Chakra: 100/100  
** **Level: 5  
** **Title: Nara Clan Heir [Pending]  
** **Title: -  
** **Title: -  
** **Class: Clan Civilian  
** **Rank E**

 **Attributes:  
** **Strength: 19  
** **Dexterity: 18  
** **Constitution: 17  
** **Intelligence: 20  
** **Wisdom: 18  
** **Charisma: 20**

 **16 Unused Attribute Points  
** **1 Unused Perk Point  
** **Currency: 4500 Ryo**

 **Status:  
** **Title Effect: Locked until Level 10**

He didn't need to check on what those attributes meant. He read up on them some time ago; They represented a person's physical and mental abilities. It was fairly straight forward. The real issue was how they increased every time he leveled up. There wasn't anything that helped him on what that meant aside from what he knew by separating what the two words were.

Level signafied a plane, or a plot of land that was flat. It was for objects or the contextual meaning of understanding each other some way or another. It also was a word that explained a person's position whether it be a shinobi rank or the grade of a item. A broken chair wasn't on the same level as a newly bought one.

Up was easy in of itself. It signified a direction. To go up, to get better or higher than what or where you were before. To put those together; 'Leveling Up' at best would mean that someone's position in something got better than where they were before. It was a good enough explanation for now. The context clues every time he leveled up did make the definition true. He raised from his previous position of a level 4. The increase in his attributes or abilities and skills told him as such.

It was interesting to say the least. His gift or ability allowed him to map out and give a meaning to how powerful or how strong he or someone else were. It also gave him a ballpark on what the numbers would show up when it was actually used. He once scanned an ANBU with his ability, and just by looking he could compare the person's number with everyone around him. ANBU had a general number of the high 80s or beyond in their attributes, Chunin maybe at 40 and civilians that didn't fight were at the lowest of the low. A mere 10 compared to even kids that were born from clans.

He himself started out with a straight 15 on all his attributes at level 1. Originally he thought that was the number for clan kids. Instead he found out there was a difference if only slightly. Heirs were at a 15. Clan children started at 12 and civilians were an 8.

Shikamaru's thought's shifted to the line right below his attributes. He made sure to stay out of everyone's way as he kept inspecting his profile. He had unused attribute points. That meant they were free for him to put them anywhere he wanted, at least as long it was in his attributes. He wondered if anyone that didn't have his ability would have unused points too. Just incase, he decided not to use any points. He was only given 4 per level and he didn't want to waste them.

Aside from that; For every level, the distribution of attribute or stat points were random. Or at least it looked random. He felt there was a pattern to it however, so he wanted to leave it as is to figure out how stat gain worked before he would use points. Perk points were a whole other issue entirely. He quickly murmured to open the perk screen.

 **Perks:  
** A perk is something that represents or shows off for others to notice, whether by birth, experience, or pure talent. Perks are what makes a person different from one another. These affect you by giving stat increases or special abilities for example, knowing you have a natural affinity to an element or jutsu. Perks can naturally be obtained by growth or by learning, however; Special perks will require you to use a point to obtain it.

 _ **Yin Element Affinity:  
**_ You are naturally more in tune to the element of Yin. Jutsu and abilities that you use that are Yin based are more effective while Yang abilities are slightly less effective. Being active and using your abilities during the moments or areas when Yin concentration is common gives you a boost in power.

 **Perks Available: 5  
** _ **Natural Born Genius  
**_ _ **A Rare Nara  
**_ _ **Sensory  
**_ _ **Mind's Eye  
**_ _ **Eagle Eye**_

Shikamaru quick read over what each would affect him. He decided not to use it as he didn't know how often he would get a point. So far he obtained one at level five but not on any other level before that. The working assumption for now was 1 perk per five levels. He would have to use these sparingly. Believing that was as much information he could gather, he switched to the skill screen. That was self explanatory.

 **Skills:  
** **Health Regeneration Lv. 1  
** **Chakra Capacity Lv. 2  
** **Chakra Density Lv. 2  
** **Chakra Regeneration Lv. 2  
** **Perception Lv. 2  
** **Scanning Lv. 4  
** **Detection Lv. 4  
** **Bloodlust Detection Lv. 2  
** **Truth and Lies Detection Lv. 2**

 _ **Crafting  
**_ **Cooking Lv. 2  
** **Medicine Lv. 2**

 _ **Combat  
**_ **Evasion Lv. 3  
** **Blocking Lv. 3  
** _ **\- Taijutsu  
**_ **Nara Taijutsu Offensive Forms Lv. 2  
** **Nara Stances Lv. 3**

"Get out of my store, Brat! I've had enough of your stealing!"

"Hey! I've got money, see!?"

"I've told before. I ain't selling my wares to you! I've got customers to worry about!"

"Yeah, get out of the way, kid!"

"Scram!"

 **Skill Up!  
Perception Lv. 4**

 **Skill Up!  
Bloodlust Detection Lv. 3**

 **Skill Up!  
Truth and Lies Detection Lv. 3**

"Don't talk to that child, Masato"

"Why isn't that... thing in the slums?"

Shikamaru was shocked out of his thoughts. He straightened up his pose slightly, the slouch from his back lessened into a near relaxed stance. Hands stayed in his pockets whilst eyes moved towards where the majority of the sounds came from. His eyes narrowed in an inquisitive gaze, ears registered the fear in the quiver of a few womens' voices.

"Don't look into its eyes."

"Shh, it can hear you."

"Just give the brat a bag a chips or something. We need to get a move on"

What was this? In front of him was just a kid around his age. It looked boyish but the sunny bright hair that went down to his shoulder blades told him otherwise. In the kid's hands was a wad of ryo bills, more than enough to buy whatever s/he wanted. Why did all the other adults act this way? The kid didn't look anything like some criminal, he wore a grey long sleeve shirt with some green shorts as the kid sat on their rear, looking up at the man yelling at him.

From the corner of Shikamaru's eyes he noticed the majority of people around them were citizens, a small group of them were shinobi, yet even they had the same looks of raw tension and fear that emitted from a pained grimace. Idly, he realized they were mostly genin and chunin. The amount of bloodlust around him forced his own voice to flow out through gritted teeth.

"Scan"

 **Uzumaki Naruto  
** **Level: 1  
** **Title: ?  
** **Title: ?  
** **Title: -  
** **Class: ?  
** **Rank S [E]**

 **Attributes:  
** **Strength: 20 [14]  
** **Dexterity: 25 [17]  
** **Constitution: 27 [18]  
** **Intelligence: 20 [14]  
** **Wisdom: 23 [16]  
** **Charisma: 20 [14]**

 **Status:  
** Caution! All effects rebalanced until level 10. Status defended by unknown variables! Requires Scanning Lv. 35  
 _ **Title Effect:**_ ?  
 _ **Title Effect:**_ ?  
 _ **Special Effect:**_ Unknown  
 _ **Fatigue[Major]:**_ 10% decrease in all Attributes, 10% decrease in Ability effectiveness, 10% chance to force Sleep  
 _ **Stress[Major]:**_ 15%decrease in Ability effectiveness, 10% chance to gain Berserk, 0% HP Loss/Minute  
 _ **Curse[Major]:**_ -80% lowered Experience gain, Unknown  
 _ **Fear[Major]:**_ 10% chance to gain Berserk, 5% chance to gain Confusion  
 _ **Malnutrition [Major]:**_ 20% decrease in all Attributes, 15% chance to gain Disease, 15% decrease in Ability effectiveness, 5% chance to gain Berserk

 **Special Missions Open, Updated!**

 _ **Open Secret  
**_ _ **Rank S  
**_ **Objective: Find out why Naruto is seen this way.  
** **Special Objective 1: ?  
** **Special Objective 2: ?**

 **Reward: ?  
** **Special Objective Reward 1: ?  
** **Special Objective Reward 2: ?**

 _ **A Kit in the Wilderness  
**_ _ **Rank A  
**_ **Objective: The child in your eyes is experiencing abuse and hatred that would make lesser men break. What will you do?  
** **Options: Variable**

 **Reward: ?**

This kid… This Naruto was the trigger for special missions?! Why was Naruto so special? In fact, he never heard of a kid with that name before. He never knew a kid his age could be in this kind of situation. And the mission objectives! They weren't forcing him to do anything! They just gave him the scene and asked him to choose. Did it want him to leave this kid behind?

And _this kid_. Naruto just sat there, taking in the words and open insults. Why didn't the kid do anything? Scream, yell, fight back by throwing your money in that man's face. This kind of acting for a citizen of Konoha wasn't illegal, but it was sure as hell heavily frowned upon. Jonins would be there in moments.

Wait... where were the Jonins? Shikamaru's grimace turn for the worse when what felt like hours the shinobi in question didn't even show up to handle the situation!

Damn it. Naruto was looking down with his head to the ground. He could faintly see the kid's shoulders trembling slightly to resist from crying. He didn't even run away either. Fists pathetically attempted to hide themselves from the shirt sleeves.

This was beyond troublesome! He thought the special mission was going to be some _joke_ ; like play ball with the Inuzuka, or have a surprise greeting with the Hokage, not this loathsome event.

He wanted to get right up into Naruto's face and lecture them something about saving face. To not respond or say anything, gather that anger and use it for something else. Ignore the man, everyone around them, leave, find someplace else to buy groceries. They weren't worth his time or attention, let alone money. There were plenty of stores that were more than happy to get another customer.

Shikamaru knew he could have lived his entire life without knowing this fact. Instead, what he originally started to call a _game_ dangled this in front of him, challenging him if he was willing to do something to break the norm. In fact, why wasn't he doing anything at all? A flash of anger burned into his soul that could melt even the Hokage into nothing but a puddle in the middle of a snowy winter. Actually, why did he even care? This was the first time he ever knew the kid existed...

A sudden flash of guilt washed over him. The wave drowned his anger away that was towards the kid and the grown ups around him. The game thought it was _an oh so great_ moment to bombard him with information. Memories played back in his head. Nevermind, The anger was back, and he redirected it at _himself_.

This wasn't for a reward. He'd throw that mission away if he could. Instead all he got were new windows followed by pings and chimes. They were fervently ignored, his gaze focused on Naruto as he grit out, "Hey"

Shikamaru purposefully ignored the cries and voices coming from the audience around him. He didn't so much as even take a glance at the shopkeeper that halted mid sentence when he strode towards them. His eyes stayed on Naruto, his feet almost resounded in his ears when they each met the dirt and pavement below him. He got a good look at Naruto when the kid turned himself towards the would be party crasher.

Without a single word, he abruptly seized Naruto's wrist and pulled, he made sure not to use too much force. Just as the kid got his baring, he quite literally dragged Naruto out of there. Voices barely registered into Shikamaru's ears until the other kid tried to grasp out a word. His own voice came out a little too composed for the emotions that swirled in his gut.

 _"Ignore them."_

Well look at that. **_Someone's late._**

He didn't know it at first but the moment his father came into his vision, he let Naruto stand just slightly behind him. His left hand was still in his pocket but he couldn't help but clench it into a grip that hurt the palm. Eyes narrowed just slightly enough to send the message and an instinctive reaction to set himself into his clan taijutsu stance.

Right now, all he could feel was guilt and anger. Anger for both himself and the villagers that he met. What kind of people looked on at a little kid and openly abused them? Guilt for not doing anything at all when he had all the time in the world to watch everything happen in front of his eyes, some Nara he was. Tender of the herd, _what a joke_.

So he stayed like that, none could really know exactly what was going on in the two Naras' minds but they got the basic premise. Shikamaru's stare was a direct challenge, daring him to say or do anything about what had transpired a few minutes ago. In fact, the crowd was still there if they looked hard enough.

The whole special mission-no, the whole mission his mother gave him aggravated him like no tomorrow. Witnessing the hateful glares and verbal abuse. Hearing the snide and fearful remarks, like a _kid_ was something to be scared of; Like some kind of cursed monster. Watching many passersby especially shinobi that took oaths on the will of fire ignore Naruto like he never existed in the first place. Like some piece of trash or gutter rat that should be happy they even got what scrap of food to eat for the day.

Everything made him sick to his stomach. _Pathetic._

So here is was. Standing defiantly in front of his own father in the middle of the street with non clansmen as witnesses. Judging him and the other Jonin that were at his side.

His father took it all in stride. He was aloof.

Thanks to his game, Shikamaru had seen the surprise and oh yes, he also saw it on the other Jonin as well. They looked like they didn't want to watch this. It was also thanks to his game that he noticed the look the Jonin had on both him and Naruto. It seems that they had an acute awareness of this going on and it looked like this had been happening for a _long time_. Shikaku cleared up his throat, gaining the attention of everyone around. Shikamaru felt a hand on his shoulder, Naruto was looking from behind him.

Clan politics was always a drag.

"The Akimichi should have some stock."

Without a response, he made sure to take Naruto with him as they passed the jonin. His eyes stayed on his father. The man raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking if he passed.

Shikamaru only grunted affirmatively.

He switch his grip to hold the hand instead of the wrist. Best not to bruise it even if it would be unintentional, the kid was malnourished after all. It was time to get to the Akimichi clan grounds.

"Shikaku... was that?"

"Shikamaru. My son."

Inuzuka Tsume whistled, "I gotta say. He's not like a Nara at all. More like a _lion_ if you ask me."

"Damn" another Jonin cursed, his hand was firmly lain on his heart that beated like a charge of bulls.

"Scary kid"

The man only smirked with an even response, "He's got more Yoshino in him than I thought."

"What?"

The man turned his head to gaze at the two kids. "Like the Lion or the Tiger that command and hold lordship of their jungles. They are also protectors of their land, much like the Deer."

"To the deer, no animal is left behind." The Jonin gave him a questioning look while they moved forward, landing around the crowd that were slowly starting to disperse. He chose to give them the last bit of the joke just as Tsume laughed in realization.

"Not even a _fox._ "

 **Skill Gained! - Skill Up!**

 **Bloodlust Radiation Lv.1 - Lv.8  
** **Bloodlust Directional Focus Lv.1 - Lv.8  
** **Bloodlust Detection Lv.3 - Lv7  
** **Chakra Capacity Lv.2 - Lv.4  
** **Chakra Density Lv. 2 - Lv. 10  
** **Chakra Regeneration Lv.2 - Lv.5  
** **Perception Lv.4 - Lv.10  
** **Scanning Lv.4 - Lv.8  
** **Detection Lv.3 - Lv.7  
** **Truth and Lies Detection Lv.3 - Lv.4**

 **Status Update!**

 _ **Nara Shikaku gained Pride [Moderate]:**_ Cooldown Unknown  
 _ **Nara Clan gained Pride [Moderate]:**_ Cooldown Unknown  
 _ **Inuzuka Tsume gained Respect [Minor]:**_ Cooldown Unknown  
 _ **Inuzuka Clan gained Respect [Minor]:**_ Cooldown Unknown  
 _ **ANBU First Response Detail gained Respect [Minor]:**_ Cooldown Unknown

 **Perks Gained!**

 _ **A Rare Nara: Clan  
**_ The elemental requirements that you require do not debilitate you in anyway. Such as when once you are elementally deficient, you would require to attempt to regain your element once again by being around your element. You no longer require these. Being around your elements now only increases your affinity and its effectiveness. Nothing more.

 _Gained Skill:  
_ Nature Affinity Lv.2  
Chakra Affinity: Lv.2

 _ **Heart of the Lion: Blood[Yoshino Nara]  
**_ Your courage is much like the lion and tiger of the jungles and savanna. You are less likely able to be intimidated and cowed into what other people want you to do. You also are less likely able to freeze in fear.

 _Gained Skills:  
_ Courage: Lv.5  
Intimidation: Lv.5  
Mental Resistance: Lv.5

Like a dog, can I have positive reinforcement? Reviews plz, jk.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay so, I'm getting a few questions about what this kind of fic means specifically when it comes to the Gaming ability that I've set Shikamaru to have. They've also asked why it looks like Shikamaru doesn't have or will have [Gamer's Mind] and [Gamer's Body].**

 **The answer to these questions are simple. Gaming mechanics do not specify a manga, manhwa or even movie. Most people connect GAMER ability to** "THE GAMER" **, a Korean manhwa that's online for people to read. Most fics that use the Gamer ability do use the fiction's system. I however, will not. It's more of an amalgamation of various video games and general video game tropes that have been around for decades. One trope follows the classic old school RPG mechanic, Statuses.**

 **Shikamaru will not have Gamer's Body or Gamer's mind. He will also not have any special affects that the gamer ability allows him automatically. If he wants it, He's going to have to _work for it_ or like an old school RPG, find the _Easter Eggs_. Essentially if the Naruto world was an RPG game, single player or multiplayer, the _only_ difference between Shikamaru and everyone else is that he _CAN_ see his character sheet unlike others which _cannot_. That can change if he ever sets up a party. This mean he can affect himself and those around him because he has the innate ability to change his character sheet on the fly. This includes Profile, Stats, Skills, Perks, Inventory, Missions, Encyclopedia, Options, and many more.**

 **One BIG thing is that Shikamaru's Gamer ability does NOT pause time like the Korean Manhwa or other fictions. This is OLD SCHOOL RPG mechanics with modern MMO twists. Shikamaru is a smart guy. He can handle it. I won't be making the Gaming ability overly prevalent because it breaks the flow of the story quite alot. So I'm only using small tidbits of a Event Log that most would see in an MMO when it's needed. Specific changes or in depth looks into Character Sheets will be either at the beginning or end of the chapter. Kinda like a summary of the game's activities.**

 **Think Dark Souls/Bloodborne Difficulty(At level 10 and upwards) + Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest/Chrono Trigger + Divinity 2 Original Sin/Tabletop RPGs with MMOS. Please enjoy and I'll have a slight time skip because at the pace I'm going if I go day by day or by week, I won't get anywhere.**

 **Shout Out to V.I. Winthrop and their Don't mess with Sealing, You idiot!**

* * *

The Akimichi Clan were a sight for sore eyes in Shikamaru's opinion. Once he dragged Naruto over there, the disposition towards the two specifically Naruto's, changed from tension to pure surprise and kindness. The front guards for the Akimichi district allowed them in quickly and easily. He couldn't help but notice they were in a cold sweat when he ran in without stopping.

Naruto was thrown into the markets, not literally of course, but it was both amusing and solemn to see when the kid was confused for a long time. It was like the guy rarely ever gotten a kind or warm gesture from people. He watched the other kid walk around the market beside him. The stalls were lined in an organized but chaotic layout. Food and ingredients laid on and off to the counters of the open air market as shopkeepers from both travelling merchants and the Akimichi sold their wares.

Shikamaru noticed the other kid hadn't spoken a single word to him, but it was fine. He let Naruto look around and ask for prices of various foods. He felt the anger he had earlier recede off of him.

 **Status Update!**

 **Cooldown of Berserk [Moderate]: 0:00**  
 **Set to Berserk [Minor]: Cooldown, 2:00 minutes  
\- Damage Increase by 5%  
\- Increase Physical Resistance by 5%  
\- Increase Elemental Resistance by 5%  
\- Increase Mental Resistance by 5%  
** **\- Str +1  
** **\- Con -1  
\- Dex +1  
\- Int -1  
\- Wis -1  
\- Cha +1**

Damn. Was that why he felt that overwhelming amount of anger? He'd seen other people, mostly adults with that status tag, but never knew what it felt like. The hairs on the back of his neck stood stiff as if he just took a cold shower. The implications of status effects working on him made everything much more dangerous. He barely had full control over himself when he got angry. The word, [Moderate], indicating the level of his status was more than he expected, It was a huge detriment to himself. On the other hand, the positive granted him increased attributes and immunity to other statuses. It was a delicate balance. One that Shikamaru needed to learn.

"...-to"

His musing was cut off when his ears barely caught the tail-end of a sentence. Shikamaru turned himself to Naruto, the other person that spoke with a raised eyebrow.

 _ **Naruto:** My name's Naruto Uzumaki and... Arigato_  
Thank kami for event logs.

Now that his status was lowering itself over time, he was finally able to get a better look at the kid in front of him. The first thing that caught his eye was the long blonde hair that reached at least down the shoulders, disheveled from not taking care of it. It was either that or a scuffle with other kids, but there wasn't a film of dirt so he checked that off the possibilities. The thin, dark yellow eyebrows contrasted with Naruto's wide blue eyes, turned up to show the smile was real, hesitant but real with whisker marks on him. A birthmark, Shikamaru assumed.

The kid himself was small, scrawny in fact, wearing a long sleeve shirt that looked a size too big for the frame and shorts that went down just down to the shins. Something told him that Naruto was a lot smaller than the usual child around Konoha. It would be difficult for normal people, but as the clothes sashayed from the wind, he examined the contours of Naruto's body. The rib bones were defined and hollow, arms and legs a bit too skinny. It was a miracle in of itself that Naruto didn't blow away with the wind itself. At least the sandals were the right size, and the velcro that held it together didn't look like it was second hand.

 **Skill up!**

 **Perception Lv.11**  
 **Scanning Lv.9**

He resisted a grumble; _Of course_ his game allowed him to inspect everything that hid from the average naked eye. Understanding dawned on him, and he felt a little awkward about that. He was so used to inspecting everyone and everything when he learned about **[Scan]** and **[Perception]** that in any other instance, it would be considered creepy. He compared it to the looks that some chefs had on a cut of meat at a butcher. Shikamaru would have to stop doing that in the future.

The boy looked up at the other to check what the reaction was. Naruto stopped smiling, his eyes slightly narrowed at him as if the kid was trying to read him. At least the kid was insightful, understanding what he was doing even by accident. That said, Shikamaru felt that he really didn't want to make an enemy of Naruto, even if it was going to be a misunderstanding. Lessons of his mother acting the same way told him to explain himself, and he did with a disarming smirk.

"I'm Shikamaru. Did you find what you were looking for?"

The response he got were blinking eyes, confused at what had just occurred. Naruto grinned instinctively, a fist raised up in an arm pump while the other behind the back. The guy's voice was a surprise to his ears. If Shikamaru could describe it in three words; _High, scratchy, and fake_ were the top on the list. It was easily identifiable at least.

"Well, not really. I'm looking for a supply store."

Really? The first thing Shikamaru thought of was food. The guy looked like he wouldn't be able to stand in a few days if he didn't get something to fill that stomach. Still, he took it in stride and purposefully left the unspoken thought in the back of his mind for later. "Yeah, there's one up ahead."

It took them a few minutes to ride the current of the market, but Shikamaru lead the other kid to where the store was. A clan operated supply store was more extensive when compared to regular citizen ones. He mused it was merchant pride of some kind. Craftsmen preferred to sell their own wares, and they were mostly made to order. They refused to come together and let businessmen in for fear of overpricing and ruining the 'soul of the craft'. It was understandable but such a decision made a buyer have a hard time. If a shinobi wanted to purchase both kunai and scrolls, they would need to first go and buy from a smith shop and then leave to go to another shop. Clan organized stores were different as common shinobi equipment were all sold at the same place, excluding special orders and clothing.

They found one that was fairly old if the partially chipped paint told him anything. It was well maintained so he opened the door, sliding it on well oiled rails while Naruto peered in, almost hesitant in taking a step. He let out a soft sigh with a step forward. He would go in first if that was what it took for Naruto to follow.

"It's fine."

To support his statement, an Akimichi shopkeeper gave the two kids a wide smile after the slight shocked look that didn't go unnoticed.

"Irasshai! What can I get you today?"

He watched the other kid start with a grin and walked in. Eyes moved from side to side, unsure of where to focus. Naruto's feet scuffled the ground as the wads of ryos in his head trembled. Shikamaru noticed the kid never once did look towards him, for whatever reason he didn't know. At best, he guessed the kid thought he would be left alone after being lead to the shop.

"I'll wait."

Naruto widened his eyes pointedly at his words. It was hesitant at first but Shikamaru was true to his word. He idly watched the other kid explore the stop, hands and eyes touched and explored every corner of the shop from the shelves to the counter. Naruto was a hands on kinda kid then.

Still, something gave him a feeling of wrongness in the act. Naruto weighed two different types of kunai, his face had a look of confusion. Aside from the length of the hilt, there was very little deviation from each other yet the kid look on like it was a hard decision. Shikamaru got a look at the prices before he raised an eyebrow.

"Get the shorter one."

The blonde kid frowned. "Ano… why?"

"You're going to the Academy right? They only teach standard type weapon skills." He stopped his sentence after that. Of course, If Naruto was given a hard time on the streets and _Jonin_ of all shinobi didn't fix everything, than the Academy probably didn't even give him the curriculum. Naruto was his age, there was no way he was already a Genin, didn't have a headband to prove it. He watched the other think about his words until the longer kunai was put back on the shelf. Might as well help the kid get everything they wanted. This just got a little more complicated.

"You're helping me ttara?"

Shikamaru couldn't help to blink at the question. Did Naruto have to emphasize the question like he was worried that it was a joke? Let alone Naruto just used the female form of the polite _tteieba_. This girl really didn't believe him and a stone was set in his stomach. Girl didn't trust anyone.

"I'm also joining the Academy." The words that left his mouth were the best that he could do. Shikamaru was afraid she might not believe him and thus an excuse was better than a real confirmation. It might go like he was making her buy all the wrong items and force her to buy everything all over again when she realized they weren't the right stuff. Who knows how many people had taken advantage of her money if she had to ask.

"Really?!"

He sighed at the girl's smile that proceeded to get larger, eyes widened to let him see the blue that reminded him of the sky. This was going to be a drag. They had to start from the beginning of the checklist, and since the girl never got a supply list for classes, he'd have to use memory as a reference point.

Thankfully, the Akimichi shopkeeper helped out after a few minutes. He wasn't surprised anymore when Naruto looked at the change given to her at the counter. He guessed the girl had gotten scammed on prices before and that was why she brought so much ryo.

A resilient paper bag was filled with the various kunai, scrolls, brush and ink instead of a sealing scroll. Scroll containers weren't given to non-shinobi since they were a little expensive to use as bags. Shinobi themselves usually brought their own bags or scrolls anyway so there wouldn't have been many scrolls outside of selling them.

"So you're going to the Academy too, Shikamaru?" They left in a slow pace, he opened the door when Naruto asked beside him. Already calling him by first name and without the honorific too. He only nodded while they both walked around the Akimichi grounds, it was a comfortable silence for the both of them. He looked to his side, Naruto was brimming with energy, ready to run off and do something at a moments notice. She kept her eyes moving from stall to stall to see what was sold. The merchants gave her warm expressions which made all it the more comfortable. At least he thought the girl relaxed.

They walked a steady pace and followed a sort of wave that every buyer and seller knew as a road to get around without bumping into anyone. His eyes went to study the girl beside him, stopping at her waist and chest line. She was way too thin, the ribs were easily hollow enough to notice even under the baggy shirt of hers and the somach that connected to her chest bent at an angle that would turn the Yamanaka women green in envy. It was really obvious that the girl didn't get to eat a lot and if she did, they probably weren't that healthy. When they almost reached to one of the entrances of the Akimichi grounds, he slowed. The girl beside him stopped after a step with a confused look on her face. Apprehension grew and it showed by a frown and down-turned eyes.

"Wait here." He left before Naruto could call back. He walked back into the market. Since Naruto had a hard time buying at the other supply store, Shikamaru hazarded a guess-well, more like a educated assumption that the girl had a hard time buying food as well.

Like any person with a job or career, Shinobi required their bodies to be in shape. That included a healthy diet and if Naruto was going to the Academy like he was, she'd need to eat. They walked by a lot of food stalls earlier and he remembered a fruit stand that they passed by. It wasn't much but he thought a basket of fruit would give Naruto a boost. It would take more than that though to get her healthy.

"Troublesome", He uttered out lowly while a woven basket was handed to him with every fruit imaginable. From apples to oranges and berries to a cantalope gave a thing a fair amount of weight. It wasn't his job and it also wasn't his mission to get Naruto anything but, the looks from the Jonin and the Akimichi made him gather a reason to at least try. If Naruto didn't take it, it was fine by him. He wasn't going to force anything and he doubted he had a right anyway.

It barely took him two minutes or so to get back and in his view was Naruto, still where asked or rather told the girl to wait. He frowned. Naruto looked like she didn't get all that confident in a new location as she showed before. Feet lightly shuffled on the ground, eyes narrowed and shoulders hunched as if she was ready to run at any moment. Her eyes stopped at him when he came up, the basket was held out to her. He could tell Naruto had some unspoken question.

"You're going to need the muscle to be a shinobi."

The exchange was slow. Naruto grasped the basket gently with a bit lower lip and lifted it, it seemed the girl had the strength despite the negative status effects that plagued her. Shikamaru noted the girl was honestly confused at the sudden kindness and he personally didn't want to explain himself. Her eyes widened with an open smile.

"Arigato ttara!"

Again with the emphasized particle. He didn't need that as Naruto by what little exposure he already had was extremely expressive, from the body language to the face. If he cared, he would have felt a little awkward. Instead, his stomach grumbled. He quickly changed the subject when Naruto's stomach followed suit.

"You hungry?"

Instead of an answer, Naruto ran forward in another direction, closer to the Hokage tower by the looks of it. She waved an arm at him when she noticed he wasn't following.

"I know a great place!"

Shikamaru should have known. He smothered a chuckle before he sat down next to the girl. Naruto was already talking animatedly with a teenage girl at the counter. An older man had his back to everyone as he worked on the broth and pulled scratch mixed noodles of the ramen he was selling. He nodded every so often to let Naruto know he was listening in. Of course what Naruto meant by great place was a place that thought of her just like any other person. It made the stone that laid in his stomach grow two-fold.

"This is Shikamaru dattebayo!" He froze when he heard that ending phrase. Naruto's hands were on his shoulder, shaking him to let the girl and his father see him. He tried to stay in his relaxed position, hands in his pockets and half lidded gaze but failed when his sense of balance was off.

What kinda verbal tick was that?! It didn't mean anything. _Da_ was from _desu_ , _tteba_ was the male and cocky form of _ttara_ , and _yo_ was to end a sentence. Adding them all together didn't make something he could easily understand. Add to the fact that ever since Naruto talked to him earlier, she only used the _ttara_ , and that he was sure of that she meant what she said and she wanted to be listened to.

This tick at best was a cocky and childish phrase that just meant her sentence was super important. It was like saying ' _I'm the most coolest and mysterious ninja in the world.'_ It was redundant. He forced his eyebrow to not twitch. He didn't want a misunderstanding to happen instead of the truth, and the truth was; _'Using my brain for something that didn't need it'._

"Irrashaimase! What can I get you?" The older man said as he bowed just slightly lower than an average greeting from a chef to a customer. To the average child, they wouldn't have understood the meaning. Shikamaru was different. He noticed the change in the man's demeanor, a sad yet grateful smile when he raised himself up.

Damn it.

"Tonkotsu Ramen Special with extras and a Regular for me with extra nori." He answered and pointed a finger at Naruto to his left, making sure the special ramen was for her. The old man looked at him with raised brows before a wide smile was given out.

"Hai!"

The waitress giggled when Naruto grasped his shirt. "Why'd you order for me too?!"

"Troublesome." Because if you didn't have a stomach, you'd be hollow down there. He continued with one eye closed and the other in a half lidded gaze. "You looked like you'd have a hard time deciding. Why not everything?"

She thought about it hard with arms crossed. He could see the gears that started to crank, Naruto nodded with a grin. It was just in time too, the ramen that he ordered were immediately laid in front of them. The girl beside him had sparkles in her eyes as they marveled at it all. Shikamaru himself wondered where the hell she would start. It was covered with soft boiled eggs, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, fatty chashu, kakuni with scallions and nori. The noodles themselves were submerged in a thick and fatty broth that looked as if they were a sauce instead of a soup.

His was paltry in comparison. A simple ramen using a thinner broth with the normal amount of toppings but had extra nori seaweed, if it was seaweed, he'd eat it. Sadly, mackerel and salmon weren't supposed to be in ramen. Just as he followed Naruto's own movements in getting chopsticks, the old man got closer to his ear. The smile was still on the man's face when he spoke, "Arigato, Shikamaru-kun."

"What a drag." He responded with a smirk. Naruto was already diving head first into her bowl. Honestly, He never saw such a weird method of eating before. He'd say she _inhaled_ the bowl but it had a certain amount of etiquette with it that it looked polite even when everything was shoved into her mouth. Curious if the ramen was that good, Shikamaru followed suit but ate at a more calm pace.

Lo and behold, it was very good. The broth was top quality and the noodles had a spring to it that made the entire dish engaging. Shikamaru wondered why the man didn't upgrade from such a small stall. The Akimichi would've invested to keep such dishes near being food fanatics and chefs themselves.

"Another!"

The counter shook slightly and a loud bang hit the wood when Naruto nearly slammed her bowl after drinking the broth. As much food as it was in one dish, Shikamaru was shocked to see the girl was still hungry! He just started and the girl was already on her second bowl. Maybe she did eat alot, but only if it was available to her.

He kept quiet when he ate, letting the girl to his side do all the talking. Once and awhile he would nod or shake his head when something was prompted. He listened but decided not to actively engage. It was a comfortable atmosphere, he let himself be the quiet company.

"Phew~ I'm stuffed!"

When he was finished, Naruto ate six entire Tonkotsu Ramen Specials and even then the girl had a confused look on her face.

"Normally I'd have ten." He coughed out a burp when she said that. What kind of appetite did the girl have? Gratefully the chef spoke over him to answer.

"That's regular pork ramen. My Tonkotsu Special has a really filling broth."

Naruto smiled wide, "So that's why it was so good! Ne, Ojisan. How much was that?"

"Oh you don't have to worry about that Naruto-kun. I'll handle it." The voice that appeared from behind him was old and slightly raspy from dehydration, yet held a firm tenor that Shikamaru recognized instantly. He turned his head around as calmly as possible to meet up with a fairly tall, wizened old man. He wore a white and red robe with a hat that no one would ever forget about. A pipe was snuffed out when the old man continued, eyes roamed to him up and down, "It looks like you made a friend."

"...Hokage-sama." Shikamaru said as he got down from the seat to bow. The hokage's hand stopped him when he stood up.

"Ojiisan! This is Shikamaru. He dragged me all around Konoha so I could get these." His brow twitched when Naruto's voice came out. Did the two know each other for Naruto to call the Hokage _Ojiisan_ for that matter? And while yes, he dragged the girl to the Akimichi grounds, they didn't go all around Konoha. Stop exaggerating!

Anything he wanted to even say was interrupted with a loud holler from Naruto showing off everything she bought. He watched the Hokage give out a smile and patted the girl on the head. It was an unusual experience, but it also created a confusing issue that resounded in his head. He had many pieces and strips that could make a picture, however he wasn't able to line everything together to fit into place.

Naruto was a girl his age that from what he experienced so far was enthusiastic, hyper yet tame depending on circumstances. Her attitude was very different from other girls their age with a certain physical and unreserved outlook that made her more childish yet mature outside her age group. Despite all that, she was plagued with countless amounts of status effects and titles that he wasn't able to read, let alone the fact that he could read _most if not all_ status effects of regular people.

The girl was also level 1 at that age. Everyone else around their age was level 3 or 4 depending on if they were clan children or not, not to mention she had a status effect that forced her to grow _slower_ than everyone else. Her stats at level 1 were blaring alarms that were higher than a clan heir. What was she?

This, Shikamaru hadn't yet to account her interactions and relationships with other people so far. Citizens of Konoha gave them a wide berth before and after his temper tantrum, or at least that was what he personally called it. Berserk didn't fit so he just used that. Possible answers would be that her family was disliked by prior history of crime but that wouldn't fly with Shinobi of all people. From Genin to Chunin, shinobi had that same attitude towards her; Jonin, now that was another problem entirely.

Jonin prided themselves to be the best of the best shinobi excluding the ever specialized ANBU. This included the fact that Jonin were to follow and aspire to the _will of fire_ in their lives. They were the not just the best and powerful shinobi. They were open minded, tolerant, and engaging. Tens if not hundreds of missions that involved unsavory activities molded them into these types of individuals. Why were they late or if they weren't, why didn't they jump in before he had the time to make a decision?

"Shikamaru-kun?"

He was so deep in thought that he jerked his head into a palm that rested on his shoulder. The Hokage gave him a warm smile that reached to his eyes, a small wad of ryo was laid on the counter for the ramen. He wanted to refuse the gesture but the look told him otherwise. Shikamaru couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed. Such open affection wasn't seen at home and he didn't know what to do.

"Don't worry about the bill, young Shikamaru." The man told him. A hand carried some of the weight of Naruto's supplies and let go of him after a few more pats. "Thank you for spending the day with Naruto-kun."

Better get used to it then. He answered back without much thought. "Troublesome, but it was alright."

The Hokage which he introduced himself as Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded before he informed the boy that he'd take Naruto home. The girl herself nodded enthusiastically while he just raised a questioning eyebrow. She jumped up and down with a smile on her face and exclaimed, "Maybe we can meet up again and have some fun ttara!"

"I agree with Naruto-kun. It would ease an old man's heart for the younger generation play together."

Shikamaru stood outside Ramen Ichiraku, watching the two figures move farther south from the hokage monument. Both waved at him in goodbye. He called out, hoping Naruto would hear. Better to give out options instead of walking into another event like earlier.

"If you meet anyone who doesn't sell to you again, head over to the Ino-Shika-Cho block!"

 **Mission Complete!**

 **A Kit in the Wilderness**  
 **Rank A  
Reward: [Check Later]**

 **Exploring Fawn**  
 **Rank D  
Reward: [Check Later]**

Shikamaru sighed, his mission over. Now that he had time to himself, thoughts ran a mile a minute. He needed to process everything that occured and so he quickly found an open spot by a tree closer to the hokage monument.

Naruto's relationship with the Hokage was a weird one indeed. It felt a lot like a grandfather to a grandchild. The issue was that Naruto wasn't blood related to the man, sure the Hokage was a very nice individual but he doubted that _he'd_ call the Hokage _Ojiisan_ and act so casually.

The entire fact that Naruto having a nice relationship with the Hokage contradicted the attitude of most shinobi or anyone that lived in Konoha with the girl. Most gave her a hard time, others fully surprised or passive towards her, like the Jonin and his father. Clans like the Akimichi acted positive even though they were shocked at first. They were passive at the beginning, choosing not to take the first step as if they were in some kind of bad prior experience like a hurt woman in a bad romantic relationship. It just had to be him to be the one that made the first leap and patch that up. Shikamaru hoped his own clan would act a little more positive to her if she ever went to the Nara public grounds. Who or what was Naruto anyway?

While his mind was filled with assumptions and thoughts, Shikamaru yawned and looked up towards the sky. He envied the clouds right about now. They didn't have to worry about drama, current events or even the troubles that would always grow into a ball that couldn't be untangled.

"What a drag" Shikamaru smirked. Naruto was an enigma, and it looked like Naruto herself didn't know it either. He'll find out sooner or later. She was interesting to say the least. For now, he closed his eyes, planning to take a nice long nap. He'd read his character profile later.

Hours later, he rescued Choji from a few bullies… again. Two friends in one day. He didn't expect to make any aside from getting his mom off his back.

 _Maybe_ he should humor that game of his.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys. Hope you like this one. Personally I think I used too much purple prose. The Academy days are next!**

* * *

 **Nara Shikamaru  
Health: 139/139  
Chakra: 108/108  
Level: 5**

 **Title: Nara Clan Heir [Pending]  
Title: -  
Title: -  
Class: Clan Civilian  
Rank E**

 **Attributes:  
Strength: 19  
Dexterity: 18  
Constitution: 17  
Intelligence: 20  
Wisdom: 18  
Charisma: 20  
16 Unused Attribute Points  
1 Unused Perk Point  
Currency: 3500 Ryo**

 **Status:  
Title Effect: Locked until Level 10**

 **Perks:  
** ** _Yin Element Affinity:  
_** You are naturally more in tune to the element of Yin. Jutsu and abilities that you use that are Yin based are more effective while Yang abilities are slightly less effective. Being active and using your abilities during the moments or areas when Yin concentration is common gives you a boost in power.

 ** _A Rare Nara: Clan  
_** The elemental requirements that you require do not debilitate you in anyway. Such as when once you are elementally deficient, you would require to attempt to regain your element once again by being around your element. You no longer require these. Being around your elements now only increases your affinity and its effectiveness. Nothing more.

 ** _Heart of the Lion: Blood[Yoshino Nara]  
_** Your courage is much like the tiger of the jungle. You are less likely able to be intimidated and cowed into what other people want you to do. You also are less likely able to freeze in fear.

 **Perks Available: 5  
** ** _Natural Born Genius  
Sensory  
Mind's Eye  
Eagle Eye_**

 **Skills:  
Health Regeneration Lv. 1  
Chakra Capacity Lv. 4  
Chakra Density Lv. 10  
Chakra Affinity: Lv.2  
Chakra Regeneration Lv. 5  
Nature Affinity Lv.2  
Perception Lv. 10  
Scanning Lv. 9  
Detection Lv. 7  
Courage: Lv.5  
Intimidation: Lv.5  
Bloodlust Detection Lv. 7  
Bloodlust Radiation Lv.8  
Bloodlust Directional Focus Lv.8  
Truth and Lies Detection Lv. 4  
** ** _\- Mental  
_** **Mental Resistance: Lv.5  
** ** _\- Crafting  
_** **Cooking Lv. 2  
Medicine Lv. 2  
** ** _\- Combat  
_** **Evasion Lv. 3  
Blocking Lv. 3  
** ** _\- Taijutsu  
_** **Nara Taijutsu Offensive Forms Lv. 6  
Nara Taijutsu Defensive Forms Lv. 4  
Nara Stances Lv. 6**

 **Missions [Active] +**  
 **Missions [Closed] +**

 **Encyclopedia**  
 **Locations +**  
 **People +**  
 **Clans of Konohagakure +**  
 **Items +**  
 **Scrolls and Books +**  
 **Ninshu +**  
 **Kekkei Genkai +**  
 **Jutsu -**  
 _Other Skills_  
 _Fuinjutsu_  
 _Genjutsu_  
 _Bukijutsu_  
 _Kenjutsu_  
 _Kinjutsu_  
 _Ninjutsu_  
 _Taijutsu_  
 **Crafting -**  
 **4 New Blueprints!**  
 _Cooking +_  
 _Alchemy_  
 _Jewellery_  
 _Smithing_  
 _Tailoring_  
 _Carpentry_  
 _Other_

 **Inventory: 30/95 Max Weight**  
 **Currency: 3500 Ryo**  
 **\- Ingredients -**  
Natural Water x5  
Water Shard x8  
Blessed Thistle x4  
Elfroot x3  
Rosewood x3  
Dragonthorn x3  
Forest Root x3  
Mountain Flower x3  
 **\- Materials -**  
Iron Ingot x2  
Gold Ingot x1  
Silver Ingot x1  
Spruce Lumber  
Spruce Plywood  
Undyed Cotton Cloth  
Cotton Yarn  
Cotton ball  
Animal Hide  
Boar Leather  
Leather Strap  
Leather String  
 **\- Tools -**  
Basic Mortar and Pestle

Shikamaru felt a headache coming though. It wasn't from the sounds of his mother cleaning and preparing to leave the house to the markets. It wasn't from his father staring at him as they were both sitting in front of each other, a shogi board at the center with him at the disadvantage. No, it was the game that gave him a headache. It took a week for him to get the inventory to work and at that he needed to manually organize everything to his liking. His reward for helping out Naruto and Choji were a bunch of items that were useless unless he put in the effort to do something with them.

This wasn't including the fact that his inventory was located in someplace where no one could see. He was dumbfounded the time he took out a vial of [Natural Water] from thin air. Unlucky he did it when his dad was around. The man didn't catch a glimpse of the act but he saw the vial in his hands and thought it was a good idea to take him outside of the village walls.

It was this reason that he wasn't able to nap at 8 in the morning. His father decided a game of shogi would do some good until they left. The house was empty for the most part aside from the two of them. The deer that lived in the Nara forests grazed outside from the patio and birds chirped as they landed around the building.

His silver general moved forward to capitalize on an opening and promoted to gold. Shikaku hummed and countered with a knight. His disadvantage became worse as time went on. He fought for the next 10 turns gradually losing and gaining advantages. In a swift action, his father ended the match with a check mate with his pawn. His father was one of the only people he faced against in Shogi and started to think he wasn't all the proficient.

Without a word, he followed his father in resetting the the board into its starting place. They both got up from their spot to leave for the day. The Nara were intrinsically able to communicate with each other in a manner that didn't need words. A silent look here or there, subtle gestures and a raised eyebrow were sentences themselves. His mother could understand some but not the entirety of their way of 'speaking' to each other. Shikamaru had to chock it up to an inherent talent that they were born with. He guessed it was one of the reasons why he didn't mind his mother's yelling that much. It showed that she cared. He still grumbled every morning when a yell reverberated in his room when he had to wake up the second time for breakfast.

"Troublesome" He saw the corner of his father's smirk when they walked in the Nara public grounds. His eyes wandered in a half-lidded gaze before he noticed something. They were moving closer to the center of the village. He and his father shared a gaze and the smirk on the man hadn't left, he raised an eyebrow for an unspoken question.

 **Mission Accepted!**

 **The Nara Craftsmen**  
 **Rank D**

 **The Art of Craft**  
 **Rank D**

 **My First Alembic**  
 **Rank D**

 **Ancient Medicine**  
 **Rank D**

 **The Earth tells no Lies**  
 **Rank D**

 **Subtle Gifts**  
 **Rank D**

 **A Spider's Thread**  
 **Rank D**

He must've made a face if the chuckles from his father had any indication. How could he not? A clan heir was expected to learn and understand the basic functions of their clan. The Akimichi from what he learned from Chouji were not just chefs, they had a high amount of stock in agriculture and the food sales in and out of Konoha. Just as the Yamanaha sold their flowers in their store, they also cultivated and devised various different types of poisons and medical herbs used in the hospital.

The Nara didn't just tend to the animals and the herd of Deer in and out of Konoha, they also preserved and refined the carcasses in a traditional almost ritual-like fashion. One season out of a year, the Nara would sell venison and other meats from the forests around Konoha, it was what they were famous for. Even the Hokage would come in for a few cuts, Deer meat when preserved for the winter were like a gift from Kami. This wasn't even factoring the medical and warmth that came from the leather and antlers.

But that was only one of the few traditions of the Nara clan. The village knew the Nara had a repository of knowledge of Medical diseases and cures from their encyclopedia cultivated through multiple generations. Where did they get such knowledge if they didn't make medicine themselves?

Smithing, Carpentry, Weaving, and Gardening were also done by his clan. It wasn't wide spread or as popular but they supplied the village with a moderate amount of each. Every clan had their own part that supported the village. The Uchiha were most recognized as the village police, Aburame controlled the bug population for the farmers and supplied everyone with Honey, and even the Inuzuka raised most of the cattle for everyone's consumption. They all grew with each other.

Konoha was like a forest in of itself.

"It's going to be a drag but, better to start before school than later."

Shikamaru dreaded of this day. As the clan heir, he was expected to learn the basics of the professions if not than at least understand how it worked so when he'd be in clan meetings the subjects wouldn't go over his head. If his father's smirk told him correctly and since they didn't go straight outside of the village than this was the day he'd start on it all. Everything. From smithing to weaving to gardening.

This was going to be a painful evening.

"Ahh, Shikaku! Is it time already?" A clansmen by the name of Suzaku Nara asked. The man wore his hair in a high pony like many others of his clan but styled it to resemble horns. The man was a Jonin if he remembered correctly. There was a small goatee that graced his chin as sweat came off his brow. He sat by an open furnace which roared flame and spewed ash and smoke every few seconds.

His father nodded before he was quickly shoved forward, closer to the fire. "Shikamaru, take your shirt off, it's going to get hot in a bit."

"...Troublesome"

He did as he was told. The t-shirt he had was thrown over a chair nearby the clansmen. A hammer was laid in his palm and he was put right in front of an anvil beside the furnace.

"We'll start small. A knife will do. I'll hold the iron, you just shape it into form. I'll guide you along the way."

 **Updating…**

Shikamaru sucked in a breath, the words blared in front of him as everything else narrowed into darkness. Without warning the fire spewed out aggressively as the man pulled out a piece of flaming iron and set it in front of him on an anvil. In less than a moment, his eyes could see again and he gasped out loudly. His father and the clansman looked at him with narrowed eyes but didn't comment. Perks of being a Nara, secrets were a hard thing to keep, but they won't pry.

If he knew he wasn't an Uchiha or a Hyuga, Shikamaru was sure he had a doujutsu of some kind. The fact that his clan didn't stop him or respond to his change proved it otherwise. He didn't see everything like the day before, not with the small windows and markings everywhere. The best he could describe it was a window or a thin sheet curtain that overlay-ed on top of his eyes in layers which didn't block his vision but moved as his eyes darted from side to side.

They were always in the corner of his vision, it allowed him to read all the words that ran across each window. Transparent to the anvil in front of him but the hot piece of iron had black lines on it's edges and dots which were placed at sections that pulsed a blue glow. His upper left had an image of his face with a red bar that he guessed was his health. Two thinner blue and green bars followed it which if his first assumption was right, then they were his chakra and stamina.

 **Status Updated!**

 **Heads Up Display Integrated!**

 **Usable Interface Integrated!**

* * *

8:45 AM

 **Shikamaru Nara Lv. 5**  
 _Health: 139/139_  
 _Chakra: 108/108_  
 _Stamina: 100/100_

 _Chakra Sensory_

 **Handsigns: Rat | Ox | Tiger | Rabbit | Dragon | Snake | Horse | Goat | Monkey | Rooster | Pig | Dog**

 **| Profile | Equipment | Inventory | Crafting | Abilities | Missions | Events | Party | Encyclopedia | Options |**

* * *

 **Initiating Crafting System**

 **Blueprints Activated!**

 **Skill Learned!**

Basic Synthesis Lv. 1  
Steady Hands Lv. 1  
Smithing Lv. 1  
Engineering Lv. 1  
Fire Resistance Lv. 1

 **Difficulty Changed**

 **Basic - Reality**

 **Ironmode** ** _On_**

Thanks to the clan's requirement in learning the crafts, Shikamaru spent equal amounts of time smashing the hammer into the hot metal while he looked over this new phenomenon. Each time he struck the metal in his vision pulsed a strange red which whatever was malleable shifted into form. Blue pulses continued each time he smashed his hammer, each time his eyes focused on what changed.

"Don't just hit it. Feel the metal move under your hammer. Watch it resisting your touch. The Iron is mixing each time you change it."

Hints he thought. Over top the hot iron were black outlines like ink on parchment which showed him what he was aiming for. A knife's blade and tang he mused, a simple one that was one sided about the length of his hand. To the side of his vision yet not directly connected to his eyes floated right beside him were a piece of parchment. Numbers changed each time he used his hammer and every time it updated with information. It was easy for him to understand.

 **Craft: Smithing**  
 **Blueprint:** _Knife_  
 **Materials:** _Iron_  
 **Strength: …**  
 **Heat: …**  
 **Temper: …**

They were meant to help him with smithing. Each number changed to give him a better grasp of what he was doing and what needed to be done. A colored and finished drawing or blueprint of the knife was right beside the numbers as well. To let him know what the finished product could become.

To him he focused solely on his work and the now deemed HUD in his eyes. Silence rained down over his ears aside from the crackles of the flame breaking wood and coal whilst metal clanged with an echo each time he struck with his hammer.

The act was soothing in it's own way and he slowly kept his breathing in rhythm with the motions.

When something within him thought his work was done for now, he breathed deeply, trying to keep his breath in check. The hammer rested to his side but still in his hands. A wave of fatigue washed over him and he finally noticed he wasn't alone.

A small applause grew into a resounding storm. Other clansmen and women surrounded his station yet gave him a wide berth in case sparks flew towards them. Sweat fell down his back before his father dropped a towel over him.

"Shikamaru's a natural."

"First time with the forge and he's already tuning himself with the dance!"

"Hey, Shikaku!" A man with a square jawline smiled as he called out. Dean Nara was his name, standing next to his brother, Maen. They both wore white t-shirts with dirt stains on them and had belts that hung tools all over the waist. "You sending him to the rest of us as well?"

He saw his father smirk and from the corner of his eye, Suzaku drenched the knife he worked on in a bath of water or oil.

"Good idea."

Suzaku took the hammer from him and replaced it with the knife he just forged. It looked ugly when it was warm to the touch. Jagged and blocky was what it was yet still held onto the form he was trying to make. The man pushed him gently to a seat with various stones laid on a table.

"Do it after he finishes the knife. Go on, I'll work on a sheath."

Through that small amount of time, his vision changed and switched slightly. Most of it was still there, but instead of a screen that told him what to do when forging, he had a layout of what he was supposed to shave and sharpen and a picture of a hilt that he needed to make.

"Troublesome"

When he started on sharpening the blade, giving it a better form and an edge, he noticed a lot of craftsmen and women that came up to his father. They each smirked and conversed with each other in low voices. Shikamaru couldn't hear what they said but it was obviously no good. At least for him.

 **EXP Gain: 150**  
 **Str: +1**  
 **Con: +1**

 **Status Update!**

 **Fatigue [Minor]: -10% Attribute points, Stamina regeneration reduced by 10%, Health regeneration reduced by 10%; Cooldown: 30 minutes**

Well… he got something off the work. He guessed he shouldn't be surprised, his arms felt like jello from all the bashing and it was quite a work out. Shikamaru kept his body leaned forward as he slid the knife forward and back in a smooth motion. He followed the blueprint closely, it was his reference after all.

After a solid 15 minutes of switching between stones, the finished blade was smooth and a nice dark shine glistened from the sun. He nodded to himself and went to hold the tang with premade handles, wrapping it with a basic cloth that after he smeared it with a sticky substance.

 **Item Crafted!**

 **Basic Iron Knife [Sharp]**  
Lv. 1  
Damage: 4-6

 **Skill Up!**

 _Smithing Lv. 2_  
 _Steady Hands Lv. 2_  
 _Basic Synthesis Lv. 2_

 **Blueprint Added!**  
 _Basic Knife_

"Here's the sheath. How's it feel?"

Beforehand, Shikamaru never thought about how it felt in his hand. He always just thought a knife was a knife. A tool made and used to cut and cook. Ever since he worked on the blade, he got a new perspective in it. The process was hard and demanding in of itself and the metal didn't bend easily to his hammer. At times he thought he hit it wrong when cracks spider webbed a layer of metal before they flew on the ground. The thing would have broke if he forced it into a form that the metal couldn't take.

Aside from all the effort, the finished product was a nice thing to hold. It was light and had a good length to it. If a kunai was never in hand, he could definitely use it for emergencies. It was thinner compared to a kunai so he couldn't dig with it but the sharpness in it made him think skinning a fish would be easy. All in all, it wasn't half bad and he said so. "It's nice."

"Making something yourself really gives a feeling of accomplishment ehh?"

There was that too. He motioned to hand over the knife but was stopped by the man. He raised an eyebrow but got a smirk in response. Suzaku pointed at the forge with a thumb and a hopeful look, leaving the question unspoken.

He shrugged.

 **Mission Completed!**

 **The Earth tells no Lies**  
 **Rank D**  
 **Reward:** Basic Iron Knife x1, Worn Cross-pein Hammer x1, Worn Whetstone x1

"Hey, don't hog him all to yourself." Maen Nara said. The man's brother continued talking to his father while he walked over with crossed arms. "How about you come with Daen and I to make a house? I'll guarantee you'll like it more than forging."

"Forging is just as good as carpentry. Besides, without me you wouldn't have your tools anyway."

"Now boys, don't go fighting over about craft."

"Yes aunt/mother."

"Getting popular, Shikamaru?" He grunted at his father's words. It was his fault! He was the one that decided to stay in the Nara grounds instead of leaving. The man knew he needed to learn about the clan but they had plenty of time. It was also the man's fault for changing his not kekkei genkai. Especially when one thing from the game showed up that he never thought was real. A _difficulty setting_.

This was getting more and more into game territory. Shogi, Go, Cards. They had difficulties. Not life! Even more it said the setting changed from basic to reality. So what was the past few years of being a child? Was he specially protected before and now they were removed because he triggered an event that changed everything?! He was still a child!

He justed wanted to nap.

The arguments and scolding of mother to children stopped when his father announced, "You'll each get your turn. We'll go with Jewelry, then Alchemy."

Moment later, Shikamaru was met with a woman named Umeko Nara. The idea was a lot like forging however it was to pour molten silver into a mold. He was given a small hammer and gravers meant to etch letters and artwork on the bracelet after it was cooled down. It was harder than it seemed. It required an extremely steady hand, one wrong move and the design would either be ruined or the art would have to be changed to adapt to the mistake.

The woman praised him that it was more than acceptable for his first time. It was a simple little thing with images of a tree's branch wounding around the bracelet. Small gems were slotted into places that made it look like leaves. He was given the jewelry as a reward.

"I made a ring for your mother at the time. If I remember right, it's her birthday soon." His father mused as they left to go to the next person that was going to give him a course on their clan's crafts. He weighed the thing in his palm. It was too big for him to wear and it probably wouldn't look good on him anyway. Shikamaru handed to his father and told him to give it to mom.

 **Skill Learned!**

 _Jewelry Lv. 1_

 **Blueprint Added!**  
 _Basic Leaves Bracelet_

 **Skill Up!**

 _Basic Synthesis Lv. 3_  
 _Steady Hands Lv. 3_

 **Mission Completed!**

 **Subtle Gifts**  
 **Rank D**  
 **Reward:** Basic Leaves Bracelet x1, Amateur Pliers x1, Amateur Mini Tool-set x1

This went on for up until noon. He started with the Forge, Jeweler and Medicine women and got an alembic that he had to carry to his next destination. The tailor was next and the man that greeted them was Ensui Nara. He had black hair tied into a short high ponytail, the traditional Nara style. Dark green markings were underneath his eyes which Shikamaru thought it gave him a tired appearance. Every Nara looked lazy to him so that was obvious, but tired?

"Come in." Ensui said nonchalantly. Inside held various rolls of cloth and raw materials by a spinning wheel. Like before, Shikamaru was given a task and he was to work on it with some guidance from the crafter. He was given a needle and thread and was told to make a bag to hold the alembic that he carried.

Ensui didn't speak much nor did he give him any expert advice. He only showed him some of the stitch work and left him to his devices.

It went a lot faster than he thought. The idea was as simple and hard as the others but this required a lot of patience and forward thinking. In the end he finished a bag that he could carry on his waist that was light brown in color. Straps were put on it to hold over his shoulder for extra support.

A pair of gloves were thrown to him. They were dark green in color, fingerless with plates sewn into the back of the palm reaching the knuckles.

"You'll need then for Daen and Maen."

Shikamaru nodded in thanks.

 **Missions Completed!**

 **The Nara Craftsmen**  
 **Rank D**  
 **Reward:** Amateur Claw Hammer x1, Weathered Doming Hammer x1, Weathered Hatchet x1, Weathered Saw x1  
 **2 Blueprints Added!**  
 **Con: +1**

 **My First Alembic**  
 **Rank D**  
 **Reward:** Novice Alembic x1, Copy of Book of Nara's Common Medicinal Ingredients x1, Introduction to Alchemy x1, Boarleaf x3, Sage x1, Everburn x2  
 **4 Blueprints Added!**  
 **Int: +1**  
 **Wis: +1**

 **A Spider's Thread**  
 **Rank D**  
 **Reward:** Small Roll of undyed Cotton Cloth x1, Protective Gloves x1, Waist Bag x1 Amateur Awl x1, Weathered Knife x1, Old Needle x1  
 **3 Blueprints Added!**  
 **Dex: +1**

 **Encyclopedia Updated!**

By the time it was around 2 in the afternoon, Shikamaru finished with every profession in the clan. The majority of them gave him a reward, mainly the item he made or tools which if he wanted to work on that craft again, he wouldn't need to purchase his own.

The game didn't change anymore aside from windows that appeared each time he went to craft and the HUD no longer left from view. Shikamaru was stuck with it.

EXP Gain: 440

Str: +1  
Dex: +1  
Con: +1  
Int: +1  
Wis: +1

 **Skill Up!**  
 _Perception Lv. 12_  
 _Scanning Lv. 10_  
 _Smithing Lv. 2_  
 _Alchemy Lv. 3_  
 _Tailoring Lv. 3_  
 _Jewlering Lv. 3_  
 _Carpentry Lv. 3_  
 _Steady Hands Lv. 5_  
 _Basic Synthesis Lv. 5_  
 _Engineering Lv. 3_  
 _Fire Resistance Lv. 1_

 **Status Update!**

Fatigue [Moderate]: **-20% Attribute points, Stamina regeneration reduced by 20%, Health regeneration reduced by 20%; Cooldown: 1 Hour and 30 minutes**

 **Level Up!**

 **Level 6**

 **Strength: 22-23 [+1]  
Dexterity: 22-23 [+1]  
Constitution: 22  
Intelligence: 22-23 [+1]  
Wisdom: 21-22 [+1]  
Charisma: 20**

 **Gained 4 Attribute Points  
20 Unused Attribute Points  
2 New Perks Available!  
XP: 0/600  
Currency: 4500 Ryo**

 **Encyclopedia Updated!**

 **Crafting Updated!  
6 New Blueprints Added!**

His father patted him in the back as he reviewed everything. So just like normal if he exercised or practiced, his stats would go up naturally. That also added to the stats that would increase whenever he leveled up. The images at the bottom of his eyes showed him the hand signs he learned from his parents one morning to form chakra and use jutsu. One would complain that he was learning ahead of his peers but children that had shinobi parents had that kind of advantage. Schools couldn't force their family to not teach their kids, that aside, no parent would teach dangerous abilities and skills… yet.

They walked through the Nara grounds and out into the rest of the village, His father smirked and watched Shikamaru form the 12 hand seals, each in order from the first to last without sending chakra through or focusing. It was only an experiment. The gloves he had on given to him by Ensui were very comfortable and helped a lot when it came to carpentry. It saved him from hitting his hands with a hammer when he tried to work on a some roofing.

The Icons that depicted each seal flashed just before the eventlog in this lower right wrote down the sequences of his moves. It recorded every active move he and anyone around him did, as long as he focused attention to them.

 **Skill Gained!**

 **Skill up!**

 _Hand Seals Lv. 2_

"Shikamaru!" His head turned to greet Choji walking up with his father beside him. He stopped making hand seals to bow and greet the man which earned a nod in response. Choji pointed at his new gloves and bag and with a sigh he opened it up to let him peer in. The other kid brought out his own bag to let him see.

It was mainly empty with the exception of a few tools like a knife and some sheers, a stack of wooden boxes were tucked neatly in a corner. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. Was Choji doing the same thing he was?

"Where ya heading off to Shikaku?" Choji's dad, Choza, asked the other when they started moving together as a group. The two kids were in between the adults, Choji opened up a bag of chips as usual and brought the opening to him. He munched on a few.

The man smirked. "By the mountains."

"You mean the Nara greenhouses? Just our luck, Choji!" The man looked down at his son before he continued. "We're heading out to the pastures now, how about we join you?"

"If only Inoichi were here."

The rotuned man snickered, "He's got a daughter and she's wrapped him around her finger, just like her mom taught her."

It was well known that the three clans of the Ino-Shika-Cho were connected to each other since the beginning of the village. How or why no one had a clue except for the older clan members themselves. It was also a circular relationship when it came to trade too. The Akimichi farmed, Nara crafted, and and the Yamanaka were the face and support whenever it was needed to sell or distribute to bigger merchants, especially the nobles. There was always a Yamanaka in view when the Daimyo himself had an ambassador to collect crops. He and Choji just walked beside their fathers, happy with the company as the two older men conversed.

"I noticed Shikamaru's sporting gloves. You had him start on clan traditions already?"

"You're one to talk. Choji has a bag to hold some food for cooking."

"So? How was he?"

Shikaku grinned in pride and ruffled his hair. The front part were _just_ long enough to hold into the traditional Nara ponytail, in that one movement it all splayed out. It was back to his old hairstyle where everything behind was tucked neatly while the front and sides bordered his face and forehead. Choji had his mouth in an O shape, the eyes crinkled up.

"That's looks good Shikamaru!" The older Akimichi agreed with his son as Shikamaru grumbled, fixing the hair to make it look a little more presentable. The bangs and fringe went behind the ears that touched the shoulders, he hated it when they tickled his face but it would take too long without a comb to fix the mess. What was left were small antenna fringes on his forehead that came to the nose, those he didn't care about. He stared at his father smirk as the man continued.

Without realizing it, Shikaku had his knife that he made back in the morning. It twirled around the palm expertly before it was given to the Akimichi.

"First time."

The Akimichi whistled as he inspected the blade itself. He tested it's edge after a few moment of spinning it in the palm. Shikamaru tried to ignore the wide eyes that Choji gave him. A blush definitely didn't creep up his neck. A bottle was delicately passed to his father.

Shikaku coughed a bit after inhaling it, not expecting what it was. "You taught Choji wine making this early?!"

Now it was his turn to blush when Shikamaru looked at him with a raised brow. Choji rubbed the back of his neck with a hesitant smile. A wine brewer? Choji? Seeing the kid falter in a few steps, he punched the arm lightly and left his fist there. Choji met it with his own while the two fathers talked in the background.

It was nice if not a bit of an embarrassing experience for the two children. Their fathers didn't make a scene but rather kept a good conversation of their kid's experiences of their clan's traditions. Both were obviously proud of the two as Choza laughed when he explained how Choji was already starting to become an open food critic, listing ingredients that came from a broth that was tested.

It didn't take long for everything to change though. The two adults almost paired together into a formation moving slightly faster than the walk they had before. His father and Choji's traded bottle and knife to put away. He and Choji followed them after they realized it all. His father kept both hands in their pockets, slouched forward with narrowed eyes while the other adult moved with an intimidating grace, shoulders swished forward and back to emphasize the upper muscle hidden behind the fat.

Shikamaru moved his eyes forward. Up ahead he saw Naruto holding onto a bunch of paintbrushes and a metal can. She wore an orange long sleeved t-shirt with dark brown shorts and blue sandals. She looked tense. Arms tightened closer to the torso with her knees bent, ready to jump away the moment she was able to. In front of her stood a old man with a walking cane. He wore a white shirt with a black kimono robe covering the feet to just right above his right shoulder. Shikamaru's first thought was frail, however his HUD blared warning signs and marks all over that made him throw away that thought instantly.

The two kids stopped right behind their fathers. Naruto noticed the older men that came closer and widened her eyes at him. He gestured with his head to the side. She was smart, she got the message. While the three adults took stock at each other, Naruto snuck out of their attention to stand behind the clan heads.

"Danzo" Choza growled out deeply.

"Is this what the heads of the Akimichi and Nara do when greeting a member of the Konoha Council?"

Both men relaxed slightly yet Shikaku ignored the scolding question. "Does Hokage-sama know you're speaking to his charge?"

"I doubt conversation between a village elder and the next generation needs to be worried about. Uzumaki-san and I only conversed on her dreams. She wishes to be a shinobi." Their fathers tensed, Shikamaru felt he was listening into half a story. It was obvious The Akimichi and Nara heads distrusted Danzo but he wondered why.

"Hokage-sama wishes for her to join the natural way. Fast-tracking has been forbidden since Uchiha Itachi's sudden movement to ANBU at age 13." Choza disputed.

The atmosphere quickly washed away when someone appeared from the side of the road. Shikaku and Choza relaxed to partially turn to the Hokage walking at a sedate pace. Naruto rushed up with a cry of _Ojiisan_. It earned a pat on the head and a small smile was let out. Both fathers bowed at him with respect followed by Shikamaru and Choji. More in thanks than anything else.

"Hiruzen"

"Fine day isn't it, Danzo?" The Hokage responded. He didn't expect an answer and one wasn't given. He switched attention to Naruto and asked, "Mind sharing what you were talking about, Naruto-kun?"

"Uzumaki-san and I simply conversed over what she thought of today's _ninja_." The other man interrupted with vitriol. The Hokage frowned at the disrespect. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes much like his father at the conversation.

"Is this true, Naruto-kun?"

The girl nodded vigorously as she dropped her paint can. A brush was held in both hands before she swung it with a wide smile. "Yeah! The ninjutsu that flew everywhere at some of the training grounds were awesome. There was this purple haired lady that used a sword like this and a blast of fire flew out like a bird."

Danzo grunted disdainfully while his father chuckled. "Must be Yugao then, she was with Hayate. I remember giving the two of them time off to train at field 8."

"There's more to being a shinobi than knowing a lot of jutsu, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen inform the young girl. She pouted in response and it gotten her hair ruffled again. The man looked towards the clan heads. "I take it you're bringing your children to learn more of your clan."

"Hai, Choji is starting to look like a promising brewer."

"Than allow me to be the one to reserve your first bottle after your become a master, Choji-kun." Hiruzen widened his eyes followed by a smile. He looked down towards Naruto and asked, "Say, why not spend some time with your friends instead of doing your next prank, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto was caught red handed. How couldn't she when the girl didn't even try to hide her tools? The girl pouted with closed eyes before a wide smile replaced it, The paint cans and brushes were left on the ground. Choji grinned.

"Yeah, we're going outside the village around the mountains, Naruto! There's lots of cool stuff there. Shikamaru's family have a few greenhouses too!"

The girl quickly ran up to him and Choji, she kept talking and asking about where they were going with her feet bouncing off the ground. He sighed when he greeted her with a nod and a wave. His father smiled while he bowed to the Hokage.

"We'll keep an eye on her." It earned a nod in return. Danzo was quickly set in the old man's eye. His father and Choza nudged him and the other kids to follow. No need in staying for the resulting conversation.

"How about we share a cup of tea, Danzo?" Shikamaru didn't hear the response.

They kept a steady pace after Danzo left eyesight. Shikamaru wondered why their fathers were wary of him. The council were ultimately people that had the Hokage's ear when given an opinion. The Hokage had the final say of course and at times advisers would disagree but, there was never any lasting animosity. Shikaku and Choza's attitude with Danzo became worse when it came to Naruto. As if someone called for him, the Hokage was there to calm down any situation, it was as if the Hokage kept a close watchful eye on the girl. Was she important in some way? He shook his head and eyed the Naruto beside him. "Pranks huh?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah! I was gonna set up a trap at the hokage monument. When someone would come to look around, paint would fly all over the faces." She pulled out a few water balloons. "Then when someone would try to clean it up, these would shoot across and wash everything up including the cleaner!"

It was pretty elaborate in of itself, and it was ambitious to paint the faces of the hokage monument already. Shinobi would find her fast, unless she had the skill to back it up. Regardless, he smiled and nodded.

They were greeted with travelers moving into the village and the shinobi guard which stayed by the gates gave them a few waves. Shikamaru didn't realize that this was the first time Naruto left the walls unlike them. She kept her gaze moving from place to place. Even when there wasn't any real difference between inside the village and outside, she sparkled and darted from tree to tree.

The road to their destination was well used. Not a single patch of grass broke the dirt beaten path. It didn't take long to get there, the outskirts were maybe a 15 or 20 minutes travel. In Shikamaru's view came dozens of farmland surrounding five high and narrow mountains like steps to towers. Fog coalesced around the patches of grass and trees at each layer of the mountain if they looked up, giving a sense of spirituality. He registered Naruto's gasp as he grunted at Choji's laughter in agreement. It always did bring a scene of awe and wonder whenever he came with his mother.

"Nidaime Hokage-sama gave our clans this land for joining Konoha when the villages were founded. Shodai Hokage-sama built the farmland itself to connect to the mountains in hopes that we used it to grow for the village back when food was scarce."

Shikamaru kept only one ear to Choza's words. He'd already heard this the first time. His father told around the same things so he looked around the pathway to the mountains. I was early spring before the start of the Academy and most plants would have only started to grow. The farms were at the outskirts of Konoha yes but outside of that, they were somewhere southeast on the map of Hi no Kuni. It was a good spot to grow rice and wheat.

As they got closer, many Akimichi, Yamanaka and Nara greeted the traveling group. Some Aburame showed up as well, many insect caretaking grounds were located very close to the farmland. While most clansmen lived in Konoha, there were a number that stayed close to the given land to take care of it. The Aburame shared parts of the mountain to raise insects and to support pest control while Inuzuka rotated pastures with the Akimichi for the cattle. Only the Hyuga and Uchiha all stayed together in their clan grounds.

Naruto looked like she walked into a entirely new country. Everything was so bright and inviting, scents of fresh tree leaves permeated their journey as children threw berries at each other before being scolded. Choji handed her an apple from a nearby tree, getting closer to their destination. Shikamaru could tell this place was going to be a haunt of hers.

"Shikaku-taichou!" A voice called out with a happy tone. The owner of the voice walked forward when the group got closer to the base of the mountains. The Konohagakure hitai-ate shined under the dark, unkempt hair. Black eyes and a broad nose with well defined eyelashes raised up in joy with a grin. What surprised Shikamaru was that he was an Uchiha, the high collared dark outfit along with a tanto strapped to the right side of his back had that dark Uchiha fashion. A small Uchiha symbol blazed on a harness which ran across his chest, fastened over both his shoulders were a big help too. Beside him was another Uchiha, younger but had pronounced tear-troughs under their onyx eyes. He wore a simple black shirt with tan pants and black sandals. His father raised a hand to stop the two from bowing.

"Shisui, Itachi, stop. You're not under my command anymore."

Shisui and Itachi grinned and huffed respectively, "It's rare to see you around, aren't you usually busy?"

"Naruto here is getting a tour."

Said girl after a near moment's hesitation pumped a fist, "Yeah! I've never been outside before dattebayo."

Shikamaru could tell an idea sparked into his father's mind. He was prepared for a groan.

"You two free right now?"

Shisui snickered with a teasing face. "What's the favor, Taicho?"

"Watch these three for us? Choza and I have business to attend to." An eye twitched, you're just pawning us off old man! Shisui made an obvious gesture of rubbing his thumb with his fingers, the universal sign of payment.

Itachi spoke out with an open thought, "I should have brought Sasuke then."

"He has been asking you to spend time with him for _weeks_ now." The other Uchiha said with nudge from an elbow. This earned a grunt and Choza laughed.

"Maybe next time you can being him. There's so few Uchiha that show up, You two have been the only ones beside Izumi and your mother, Itachi, for last few years."

A sudden sense of unease and tension quickly appeared like a shadow looming over them. Choza looked on guiltily and made a subtle bow in apology. Shikaku winced in just an instant while both Uchihas gave a sad smile, shaking their heads to tell that it was ok.

The act wasn't unseen by the three of them. Despite the bullying Choji had before, He was quite perceptive of people and how they acted. He stopped munching on potato chips just as Naruto shuffled her feet, eyes closed with a lips turned inwards. She learned early on how to read the atmosphere thanks to villagers outside of clan grounds.

Shikamaru himself narrowed his eyes, they read over every adult around him and it wasn't unnoticed by the adults. Naruto and Choji's sudden change was instinctual, they knew that. Like children, they are able to read a lot on the adults around them. It was why they were so easily affected by the family issues that might or might not plague their lives.

It was also the reason they weren't concerned by Naruto or Choji compared to himself. He had a calculating gaze that seemed to scan everything about the adults. Something was definitely wrong, Choji's dad gave a light hearted statement, but it earned so much push back that he wondered what the problem was. Shikaku frowned in defeat and started to give his own bow of apology before the Uchihas stopped the man. Shisui raised a finger to his mouth, aimed at him while Itachi gestured with a wave of his arm.

Shikamaru gave up on the chase. For now.

Eventually the tension was blown away by the breeze. Shisui agreed to watch over the kids with a payment from Shikaku. They were brought to a plateau somewhere on one of the mountains. It was still a few hundred feet away from being the top but it was high enough to know one would be injured if they jumped down unless they were a shinobi. A greenhouse was built closer to an edge of the plains, far away from the wall of the mountain. The other edge headed deeper towards the center of the mountains.

Shikaku gave them orders not to explore too far away or they'd get lost and make sure not to climb higher. He was allowed to pick from the greenhouse to experiment if he wanted. Personality, it was a good spot to nap and he trusted Choji not to get in trouble. Naruto however already ran around the grounds to explore.

He followed the girl when she asked to check out the plants that the Nara grew. Inside were a plethora of flowers and herbs mainly used in medicine. It was controlled by a few machines to make sure the temperature was constant and the sun with the moon would always be shining to the house depending on the time. He noticed a few ingredients that were in his inventory grew in the house.

It wasn't an order or responsibility that he had but as he checked the condition of the herbs he also went to get a hose to water them. Both Naruto and Choji helped him out. They learned Naruto had a garden outside the window of her home but didn't have anything interesting to grow. She was quickly given seeds from Choji's pack. She refused the one that grew vegetables adamantly but rushed at the bag of cloudberries.

"Orange is a great color!"

"Wait, Those are really hard to grow Naruto!"

He heard a chuckle coming from Shisui when Naruto tilted her head. "Are they really, Dattebayo?"

"If I remember right. They need the cold." Shikamaru added, his hands didn't stop from watering all the plants. Choji nodded vigorously with a serious face.

"Just like the name, Cloudberries are a big thing in Kumogakure. They need a cold climate and the soil has to be a bit acidic for them to grow right. Most of these are grown higher up in the mountains."

Naruto reluctantly handed the seeds back. He noticed Choji had a sad expression, knowing that he just stopped someone from an eventual hobby. Shikamaru elbowed the kid and gestured with his head to the bags that still weren't looked at. He perked up at that, and showed them to Naruto.

From there Choji went to explain what each seed could grow into, now that the boys knew why she wanted those specific seeds, it was helpful in filtering out what she could have an interest in.

It didn't take long before Shikamaru replaced all the tools he used to work on the greenhouse and a few samples of plants were taken and put in his bag. It was a good time as any to work on the alembic that he'd gotten. It gave him ample reason to simply stare somewhere unfocused, much like cloud watching. The door closed with a gentle shut, Shikamaru made sure to borrow a small heater or flame to use and found a nice spot by a tree back to the mountains with a nice view of the common land in front of him. Luck was on his side as when he sat down a large stone was beside him, a great size for a table.

"Shikamaru, what are you doing?" He met Naruto's eyes after he set down the heater. The alembic and mortar pestle were immediately put in front of her. A small amount of tinder sparked into flames after a strike of a flint.

He shrugged, knife already used to cut a few leaves from an herb or such. "Testing herbs."

"Choji told me you made that knife ttara."

He looked down at the knife in his hands, the blade slid through the stalk of a medical herb and he sheathed it to hand it to her. He nodded, "It's not that great."

Shikamaru looked at the knife he made in Naruto's hands. He wasn't exaggerating. A basic knife was exactly what it was. A level 1 item that wasn't made from any special ingredient or the ever expensive chakra ore that samurai coveted for their katanas. It also wasn't made to look attractive either. It was the epitome of function over form.

Still, Naruto looked on at it with awe. With clumsy dexterity she passed it between her hands, moving it to grip that wouldn't look different from how one would hold a kunai. A bright smile came with an expectant look.

"Ne, can you make swords too?"

It was met with a raised eyebrow, "You want a sword?"

The smile widened as she got closer, the blade set back on the stone table before Itachi inspected it himself. Choji and Shisui soon followed. "I wanna do those cool jutsu moves like the Ninja lady with purple hair ttara."

He was interrupted by Shisui's own evaluation of his work, "This is well made, don't you think Itachi?"

Said Uchiha grunted affirmatively. Shikamaru noticed the grin from Choji. He didn't need to know what the question was, he had a feeling.

"How about you make weapons for Itachi and I someday?" Shikamaru couldn't refuse any longer. Everyone clamored onto force him into making items. The Uchihas gazed at him with expectation, Shisui warily smiled with his thumb rubbing the fingers. Choji and Itachi starred in hopes to add to the pressure while Naruto's eyes glistened. Oh kami, her lip quivered as if she is going to cry or something if he refused.

"I'll need to practice more." It wasn't a yes, everyone knew that, but it certainly wasn't a no. Naruto's shout in joy made him think she was only acting, and Shisui's giggling made him feel like he was played.

Shikamaru could only sigh. "Troublesome"

Time passed back relatively slow. Choji was already in the midst to explaining the basics of plants and gardening to Naruto in the distance. Each time he looked around, the other boy would have a stick to point at some shrubs or another.

Shikamaru let everyone do their thing. He kept a steady pace in working with his herbs and flowers. Pedals, leaves and vines organized and spaced out to not get in the way. His mother told him he was a lot like her, wanting to organize everything before working. It helped to have the windows always beside him which explained all the little details of his activity.

The alembic was filled halfway with water and a few sprigs of **[Boarleaves]** were left inside to infuse. His mortar and pestle were in his hands, moving in a circular pattern to mush **[Everburn]** , **[Sage]** and a few drops of his **[Natural Water]**. The sounds that came from his mortar and pestle were relaxing, even more so when it combined with the wind.

Once it was done, he poured his mush into a section of alembic and waited. The fire boiled the water slowly, a concentrated form of the liquid traveled along a tube to another part of the tool. Over time the liquid concentrated together into a sludge.

 **Crafting Completed!**

 **Minor Burn Salve**  
 _A salve that lets the user attune itself to fire._  
Heals Fire damage for 25HP  
Gives resistance to Fire at 20% for 10 minutes

 **Blueprint Added!**

"Look at that." A whistle appeared beside him to his left. His eyes met with Shisui as he gathered the salve together into a clump. A small tin was procured from his bag to seal it all in. Shikamaru was so preoccupied that he didn't notice Itachi moved to sit at his right. Flanked by two Uchiha, Shikamaru could only feel a bit of dread.

He couldn't shake the tension off even when Shisui palmed the salve he just made. He sniffed it and hummed. Itachi was the first that spoke. "You're too young to start digging through inter clan problems."

"Keep it secret ok?" Shisui added, his smile no longer lingered on his face. His eyes hard and a finger was set to his lips. "Taicho's been giving us advice. It won't bother the Nara."

"I _am_ a Nara." Shikamaru felt he needed to confirm this to the two. Secrets don't stay secrets to Nara for long. Yamanaka may have a strong hand in interrogation and politics but Nara could always read people. "I'll figure it out."

"And a dedicated Nara is something to fear." Shisui sighed with a rub at the back of his head. He watched the boy work on his herbs, cleaning out the alembic before making something new. Just then, Itachi had an idea.

"Maybe we need someone new." With a ignored cry of 'Itachi' from Shisui, the teen stared straight into Shikamaru's orbs. He stopped crafting to listen, "The Uchiha have been suspected of controlling the Nine-Tails during the attack years ago. Witnesses believe they've seen sharingan in the creature's eyes when the fight began. How do you dissuade that?"

It felt as if a pin was dropped onto a balloon. No one spoke or made a noise at all. The voices from Naruto and Choji were off further away, One climbing and playing around in the woods and the other picking wild mushrooms and plants. Shisui's eyes trained on them in case something occurred. Shikamaru breathed deeply and narrowed his dark orbs. What very little information was given to him connected the dots that were before so perfectly that he was stupid not to realize it earlier. He blinked slowly before positioning himself into the habitual stance he used when he played shogi with his father, he earned this skill and pose back when he first lost. The man was amused but it was filled with approval. With his eyes closed and a nod from the Uchiha, he cupped his fingers together and thought. Both Uchiha could see the pupils moving frantically from one end to the other of the eyelid.

Troublesome.

The Nine-Tails, Kyubi no Yoko. A monster of monsters. Even if it looked like much what summon contracts were, it had the strength and power that separates itself from any other creature. It's strength and massive amounts of chakra were beyond any living thing that he believed it to be unnatural. Stories and tales of the demon spoke of its power to flatten a mountain with a mere swing of it's tails. Infernos would blaze even in the land of iron while the gales from it's roar would devastate imperial cities. True to it's tales, the Nine-Tails nearly destroyed all of Konoha if not for the combined might of every shinobi and the Yondaime. To believe that the Sharingan, the Uchiha kekkei genkai could control the Nine-tails was...

Wait. Where did the Nine-tails come from? How did it get there in the first place to even attack Konoha? The beast was massive, as big as if not bigger than the village itself! If the creature came to attack, Shinobi scouts would find the beast and prepare the entire village. The issue was that the stories even by what his parents told him was that the monster only appeared like a summoning contract. _Poof_ , it was there. No warning, as if… It was _already_ in Konoha to begin with. People spoke of tailed beasts hiding themselves away, slumbering in hibernation for years at a time. Any smart Shinobi force would watch the sleeping beasts every day of the year. Hell, Daimyo would order any and all shinobi worldwide to work together, beyond wars and past grudges for the sake of survival. This was the most logical conclusion.

They didn't do that...

He gasped. Stories spoke of Tailed beasts before. How dangerous they were, how powerful they were. _Weapons of mass destruction_ given life… What if they were weapons? It would explain _everything_. If Konoha for decades had the Nine-tails as a weapon or even if not that, trapped the thing somewhere so it wouldn't do damage... _Of course_ the Nine-tails would suddenly appear out of nowhere. It escaped its cage!

Shikamaru was a Nara. Common people, even Shinobi have stated that tailed beasts were mindless. All of whatever little intelligence they had focused on hatred and malice. Nara and Inuzuka would refute that to their dying breaths. If the Nine-Tails were even the _stupidest_ of animals it-he-she… would have feelings, emotions... _memory_. Ninken of the Inuzuka could speak. Nara deer remembered every face that came to the forest. Crows and Ravens carried grudges that last lifetimes.

A lump appeared in Shikamaru's throat. " _Impossible_ "

The second part of the Uchiha's question. Could or would a Sharingan control the Nine-Tails? His first thought was no, but if his assumption of the Nine-tails being a captive to Konoha were true... it became more and more of a possibility. The creature would focus all of it's hate and wrath onto Konoha that if it was intelligent, it could choose to join forces with a sharingan wielder to attack the village. The only issue was the creature's personality itself. Would the Nine-Tails willingly submit to a master? It was what a sharingan genjutsu would do.

"Complicated." Both Uchiha gave him a look as he opened his eyes. He grimaced, a headache formed like a flash of lightning. A sense of vertigo hit him and he wobbled to sit down. Heavy breathes came in and out.

 _What do you think of them brother?_

 _They will never live with the humans. Even with as much guidance you bring, they will hate them._

 _Have a little faith in them why don't you, Hamura._

 _..._

A hand went on his shoulder and broke his fall into heavy thought. He met the blood red sharingans of both Uchiha, focused on his words, not what had occurred. "Could you explain Shikamaru?"

"It's... possible to control the Nine-Tails, but I doubt it. The fact is, The Nine-Tails is an animal just like any other. On average, I'd speculate as smart as an Inuzuka ninken, the clan head's ninken. I'm a Nara, the forest holds intelligent animals, we're just too stupid to realize it."

The two Uchiha nodded at him and he continued. "At best though, I'd guess the Nine-Tails would be as smart or smarter than a summoning contract, and that just means they'd be as smart as us, if not smarter. This would factor into how unlikely it is to control the Nine-Tails forcefully."

"You said forcefully…" Shikamaru nodded at Itachi.

"Yeah, but that leads to a problem. Like animals, and like Inuzuka ninken, no one knows the Nine-Tail's personality, and if anyone did, they'd be long dead. Tailed beasts have been in stories for decades if not hundreds of years. If The Nine-tails was angry at the village for…. one reason or another, it would be safe to assume if a sharingan user aided the creature in attacking the village, it would be possible."

"But that leads to another problem." The next question created a sense of apprehension on both Uchiha. They looked mildly disgusted and insulted, "Have a large group of Uchiha died for one reason or another around the same time in the last few years?"

They shook their heads. "Then the Uchiha didn't control the Nine-Tails."

Shikamaru quickly explained, "The Nine-Tails is said to have Chakra worth hundreds of Shinobi at their prime, or even the Shodaime. I don't know if there are but I'm guessing no Uchiha has that amount of Chakra. The amount needed to control the beast would kill the user. If the Uchiha did use the Nine-Tails, everyone in the clan would have to use jutsu on it."

Shisui laughed while the other smiled slightly, "Logic of a Nara. Even so, fact and reason cannot stop fear and speculation." The boy looked on to the two other kids far off, Shikamaru didn't miss the gaze that stayed on Naruto a little longer than normal. Especially with the sad smile that accompanied it.

"Then make the first move. Get more involved into the Village, help everyone out so you prove that you did nothing wrong. Make them know you stand with the village and their fears are misguided."

Itachi shook his head. "We are like the Hyuga, we'll gather and tighten our hold if we feel we're being attacked."

"Troublesome" Shisui laughed at his response.

 **Status Updated!**

 **Shisui Uchiha: Respect [Minor]**  
 **Itachi Uchiha: Respect [Minor]**

 **Status Updated!**

 **Fear [Minor]: Movement Impaired, Attribute Reduction by 5%, Other Effects Conflict with [Heart of the Lion]**  
 **? [Minor]: Unknown**  
 **? [Minor]: Unknown**

Shikamaru didn't feel like he could work on herbs and alchemy anymore. The headache hadn't subsided and his heart started hurting, like a pinprick that pierced at his center. A mask was put on his face to cover the issue. He'd have to figure out what just happened and why.

"Ne, What's in there datebayyo?"

Shikamaru jumped up, followed by confused Uchiha. Choji was the quickest to scream. "Stop! Don't get closer Naruto. It's sacred ground!"

The girl herself stood by a winding pathway that lead towards the center where the mountains surrounded. Tall trees and a large forest were in view, she complained to Choji, "What's sacred about it? Can't we explore Datebayo?!"

Shikamaru dashed off pass the Uchiha before he responded, "The place is completely dead aside from the plants. No one knows why but the best sensors felt strong chakra all over it!"

A blur moved by him at blinding speeds, Shisui's form rushed towards Naruto to stop the girl from moving closer. The Uchihas finally realized the gravity of the situation, and how suspicious the sacred grounds were. A spike of pain met up with his heart the moment Naruto moved a few inches into the pathways. He wobbled as vision blurred, Choji screamed, "Shikamaru!"

Once Itachi held him by the shoulders when he landed on the ground on his knees, he barely saw the Sharingan staring at him, reading his form to see what was wrong. Shikamaru grasped the collar to his shirt right above his heart. He could barely breathe.

 **Mission Activated!**

 **Kitarubeki**  
 **Rank A**  
 **Reward:** ?

 **Wu Xing**  
 **Rank A  
** The Nara Origins  
 **Reward:** ?

 **Dungeon Found!**

 **Temple of the Nine**  
 _Lv. 20 - 40_  
 **Requirements:** _At least 1 Jinchuriki and or Party of 6 to 8_  
 **Difficulty:** _Reality, Ironmode On_

 _Sensei, You shouldn't be a decoy for us. Why not use a shadow clone as a distraction?_

 _I've taught you before, Hiru. My clones will perish before you even make it to the border. This is for the next generation. My original choice for the position refused. He spoke of how Intent would be read different to how it's shown, I agree now._

 _Sensei… Who did you want?_

" ** _Kagami Uchiha"_**

"What did you say?" The voices in his head vanished and the headache subsided. Shisui, Naruto, and Choji were surrounding him, checking if anything was wrong. Both Uchiha looked at him eerily, Sharingan clear in his vision.

"Kagami Uchiha" Shikamaru spoke out when his breathing calmed. "You might find a clue from that."

Shisui murmured. "I've never heard of a Kagami Uchiha."

"Neither have I"

Before either raven haired teen could ask more, Naruto jumped into his view. His shoulders shook gently from the girl's strength. She and Choji looked concerned, eyes wide. "What happened ttara?"

 **Warning! Dungeon cannot be Traversed!**

 **Playing on New Game++**  
 **Requirements: Lv. 20 - 40, At least 1 Jinchuriki, and or Party of 6 to 8**

"Complicated"

Weeks later when the kids were in the academy, either Uchiha would just show up from out of the blue for extended periods of time. That wasn't including a Hinata Hyuga that suddenly joined his previously non existent friends list. Thanks to a wild Naruto.


	5. Chapter 5

**I'll be honest. I think this chapter sucks. I struggled so much and I still didn't get to the point where I want them to be. I'm horrible with Dialogue. Introspection, good, Details, good, Purple Prose, Fantastic. The real meat of it all, action and dialogue; sucks!**

 **Anyways, Sorry it took so long. Hopefully, the next chapter won't be so bad. Expect to see some Academy tensions and a dungeon to play around in. In my most dense way of thought. I thought too much and thought too hard. I made an Academy Schedule for the students. It might not be useful at all but I'll post it right under this for you to see how it's going to be for maybe the next few years. Just replace or remove the word theory when they actually know how to use chakra and we're... good, I guess.**

 **School lasts for eight hours.**  
 **Every block or class lasts 2 hours each.**  
 **Break time or recess is at lunch that lasts two hours for practice, training, or just fun. Gender specific classes switch with break every other day. During thsoe times Break is one hour and the last hour is for the classes.**  
 **Last class ends with usually something active. Everything is disguised as a game or activity but in truth teaches the students on how to be ninjas. Dexterity and Stamina training on acrobatics and obstacle courses and whatnot.**

 **Normal Students Level by 1 level every year, but earn and gain skills and attributes much more frequently.**  
 **Shikamaru and special students, like Clan children earn 2 Levels every year.**  
 **Naruto... That issue will be handled next chapter... maybe.**

 **School is from 8AM - 4PM**  
 **Monday: Anonimity, Stealth, Break, Genjutsu/Theory**  
 **Tuesday : Reading and Writing, Survival Skills, Ninja/Kunoichi, Tracking**  
 **Wednesday : Bukijutsu, History, Break, Taijutsu/Theory**  
 **Thursday : Information Gathering, Espionage, Ninja/Kunoichi, Assassination**  
 **Friday : Math and Science, Geography and Strategy, Break, Ninjutsu/Theory **

**Teachers :**

 **Iruka Umino: Math and Science, Ninja Skills **  
**Mizuki : Reading and Writing **  
**Anko Mitarashi : Espionage, Kunoichi Skills **  
**Ebisu : History **  
**Tokara : Stealth, Assassination **  
**Daikoku Funeno : Geography and Strategy, Tracking **  
**Tokuma Hyūga : Information Gathering, Taijutsu Theory **  
**Maruten Akimichi : Survival Skills, Ninjutsu Theory **  
**Tsuzumi Sarugaku : Anonimity, Assassination **  
**Tessen Togeito : Bukijutsu, Genjutsu Theory**

 **You might know who these characters are. They're all canon, some have little to no screen time and some have only been in this manga and show just once. Teachers are Chunin but many are Tokubetsu Jonin as they are Tokubetsu for a reason.**

* * *

 _'Please reconsider, Sensei. I can't take the position'_

 _A spear tip grazed his shoulder as he hissed out at the poison which slowly worked into his system. The enemy surrounded him before a heavy dose of **[Earthly Quake]** that ruptured the trees littering the battlefield. It caught only two unawares but it was enough. The jutsu was a cover to allow waves of marked kunai, and it showed when not even a flash the two enemies had fallen with kunai stabbed through their hearts._

 _The others retaliated with fire jutsu, He countered with a **[Water Wall]**. Steam covered the battleground, He should have known they had sensors. The kumo swordsmen rushed towards him, blades glistened and gathered water droplets while a kunai was the only thing he used to block and parry. Years ago he used a sword but deemed himself no longer worthy of it when the village was founded._

 _' You two are still young, so don't be hasty'_

 _His ribs were punctured by a stab and he hastily dodged from jutsu fire. The enemy were well trained and very coordinated; They moved with precision and a grace that would have left him speechless if he weren't fighting for his life._

 _A **[Water Dragon]** smashed his assailant into rocky spikes, the back erupted through the chest as blood rained around him. The enemies weren't shaken but instead were emboldened. The two brothers, the leaders of his opponents brought out treasures to fight. He endured against the gales of the magical fan, and rolled out of a golden rope's way before a blade came down on his neck. In blinding speeds he reappeared far across the battlefield to an unsuspecting ninjutsu user._

 _Buying time was the highest priority to him. As long as his next generation lived to look over the village, his promise to Hashirama was fulfilled. That didn't mean he would let his enemies live. He conserved as much chakra as possible; For hours on end, he dodged, and parried incoming attacks from all sides, slowly gaining ground as each shinobi lost stamina for him to make the finishing blow._

 _'Hiru. Protect those who love the village and those who believe in you. Nurture those to whom you can entrust the next generation.'_

 _In a miscalculated move, a sword punctured his gut, fragments fell off from the blue armor he wore. The melodic sounds from hitting the ground snuck into his ears. His vision blurred just after his enemy tripped from a lost leg and arm, compliments to his own kunai work. He was losing too much blood, and there were still a few left. The brothers retreated the moment they lost the majority of their chakra. Even if he had to die here, the rest would fall where they stood._

 _'Starting tomorrow, you are the Hokage'_

 ***Bllalrgh***

Bile dropped into the open water of a toilet stool until Shikamaru continued to dry heave. Thin strips of saliva pooled under his lower lip before he spit out the painfully disgusting acid from his stomach.

It was just a dream, the boy thought, yet it was so vivid he could taste the iron in his mouth. Smells and sound of bone crunching against rock and wood pulled on his mind again as he gagged. The window from the bathroom by his bed was dark, moonlight glimmered through the glass. The clock hands over the door had said 1:30 AM. His father would get him a few hours later if his abrupt wakening didn't get the man first.

Sleep. Damn it, he _loved_ sleep. Eyes that closed into the blissful rest that he enjoyed weeks if not months before turned into an event he was not fond of. Ever since the trip to the Common grounds when he was met with a dungeon of all things changed his dreams.

 _A dragon of water burst through from behind him, the enemy impaled into a broken tree from the impact, ruptured and unmoving, but he couldn't keep his attention as he raised a kunai to stop the edge of a blade from touching his neck. Lightning smashed into his side to counter a water wall he summoned._

Shikamaru shook his head, the thoughts thrown into the back to his mind to look at later. Running water swam out of the faucet whilst he cleaned himself up. A splash of ice cold water hit his face to clear the mind. When he got out he looked at the pillow of his bed. It called to him for just a few more hours of rest. He ignored it.

Sleep wasn't going to help him if the dreams were going to appear again. Shikamaru tiptoed outside to check on his family.

 **Skill Up!**

 **Sneaking Lv. 8**

They weren't awake yet so Shikamaru went out to the porch of his home. The sky was clear of clouds and stars lit up the night as moonlight shined down on his home. A game board stood on the porch, clear from any pieces that were held in a small box to the side. He shook his head to himself. A game of shoji wouldn't help right now. There was no one to play and the other nights of playing against himself could only do so much until he hit an impasse at this stage.

"A walk." Shikamaru said to himself. With a pair of sandals on he left the compound to wander. He made sure to stick within the Nara grounds in case he needed to get home. Getting lost wasn't something he did often but it would be best not to worry anyone.

The village was quiet in the middle of the night. The only ones that kept awake were the night guard and watch from the shinobi, as well as the few in-between mission goers. Some bars kept a 24 hour open schedule to allow people to come in and rest but they were mostly Yatai and Izakaya that only held the bar stools.

Steam and aroma of food touched his nostrils as he walked. Shikamaru let his feet lead him without thought. Eventually he reached the deeper end of the Nara common grounds where he came with his father weeks ago, on the day he nearly collapsed and the nightmares began.

Anxious in the cool night breeze, the boy walked up to the forge where he first tried smithing from Suzaku and stared at the cold furnace. He grimaced at a vivid memory of a dream, hazy, grainy, but it imparted an image which was hard to ignore.

 _A blade of lightning flashed onto the edge of a sword thicker than the width of an average man. It's circular, cloudy guard flashed as it blurred the images of a second form. Dual blades cashed down on his dominant arm, sending it's limb far across the wooded battlefield. HIs other arm quickly formed seals and a breath of wind pushed his enemy away as blood pooled below him._

Shikamaru bumped his palm to his forehead a few times, the memory breaking apart into tiny specks, it's image transparent to the forge in front of him. Unlit and empty of coal and wood. He remembered how relaxed and focused he was when crafting came to him during that time. He felt he didn't mind if it happened again. He got nowhere with figuring out what or why he gotten these dreams and as the memories of his dreams being fractured after each awakening, he had no timeline to set them together.

It would do some good, he thought. With his decision made, the boy looked over the forge and his surroundings to know what he had to use. It was set up farther than most buildings, sequestered off to the side of the district to keep the sounds of work from waking up clan members. The workspace was clean, washed, waxed, buffed, and even sweeped inside the furnace. Not a single speck of coal or wood filled the space and every tool was organized by size. Best to keep it that way when he was done.

With great effort for the time of day he was in, Shikamaru gathered up coal and wood to heat. He let it sit to gather and grow the fire until he needed to add more. Suzaku would have to be reimbursed later. By mental command, the crafting panel appeared at will. Three windows lined up neatly, each indicated a different subject.

Blueprints were chosen with a swipe of his finger and out came a list of everything that was already designed for him to see. With each selection, the other two windows changed and gave out information on what it was. With his level of skill in the art, he could only make equipment made of Iron. Whatever armor was available were locked from him until Smithing level 10. Shikamaru grunted in dissatisfaction.

From the corner of the blueprints, an icon of an ink and brush lain over-top of a piece of paper. Curiously, he clicked on it and out came a massive window.

 **[Blueprint Creation]**

Incredible. He had the freedom to pick and choose designs and make his own without trying it with real materials. The ability was unrestricted as well aside from his own limitation of [Iron only]. He could freely design weapons, clothing, and various items he wanted without the repercussion of wasting resources and it gave him images of what the item would look like as well as various effects and stats of it if he created it.

With the thought of Chouji grumbling over not having his own knife and Naruto's constant wonders of his tools whenever he used them before a nap, Shikamaru planned out an idea for tools for them. He frowned when the swords were locked until a higher level in skill was needed but kunai were well within his skill range. With some extra iron ingots into the design and reforming of the blade, he changed the design of a kunai into a Santoku kitchen knife. It wouldn't be the best nor would it be an actual knife that was reliable for kitchen work but it would do until he got better. With knowledge of changing a kunai into a knife was possible, he spent some time making a sword that could be used as practice. He mumbled on how the Academy wouldn't teach kenjutsu but designed it anyway.

Just as he finished, the heat of the fire seeped into his form, the warmth spread out further around the area once he added more fuel. Iron Ingots were taken out of his inventory with a silent command, Shikamaru began his work.

The wait for the metal to heat and soften got boring fast. He cleaned a table for his own use and decided to take his mind into another craft. Alchemy was the first on his list as sewing took too much concentration if he wanted to make anything appealing. Everything he needed was taken out of his waist bag which was also in his inventory screen. Plants, liquids, and shards were laid neatly to the side. He spent an hour or so alone in in the clan library to look up on the shards just in case they were rare. The compendium of medical knowledge enlightened him with an interesting tidbit.

The **[Shodai Hokage's Necklace]** was made from these shards, but they weren't expensive compared to the jewelry. The Land of Iron and any country that didn't use shinobi for everything mined for the shards to supply their military. **[Crystallized Chakra]** they were called. Or **[Nature Shards]** , each containing an elemental affinity and could be used by shinobi and civilian alike. **[Fire Shards]** were carefully broken and refined to be used as actual fire. Any respecting alchemist could have a shard dedicated to heat their alembic and the water could be extracted and formed from their shards as well. **[Earth Shards]** could be used as emergency materials for walls and buildings, but their true capability was when they were used in tandem with chakra.

A shinobi could save part of his own reserves if he had a fire shard while using a fire jutsu, and a medical nin could easily take an unaffiliated shard to replenish their chakra without rest for a short amount of time. Samurai from the Land of Iron infused their armor with shards to keep them on equal footing with Shinobi. That was a practice that was hoarded and kept secret like diamonds.

He shook his head, there wasn't a point in getting all worked up with shards. It would be bothersome especially since shard work required a much higher level and he had no recipes for those. Thinking of…

 **Title Obtained!**

 **Hands First in Art**

 **8 Recipes Available**  
 **[Lesser Health Poultice]**  
 **[Lesser Chakra Potion]**  
 **[Lesser Stamina Power]**  
 **[Lesser Burn Salve]**  
 **[Lesser Blood Clotting Salve]**  
 **[Lesser Mending Oil]**  
 **[Lesser Paralysis Oil]**  
 **[Lesser Wolfsbane Oil]**

He earned a Title already? Shikamaru ignored it for his own sake. He didn't want to even try and analyze how he got it, it would only cause undue amounts of work. He let it be and went back to his recipes. **[Chakra Potions]** would be a boon for any Shinobi and it helped prevent exhaustion. The issue was the ingredients that it needed; Where would he even find something like a **[Chakra Shard]**? As far as he knew, Konoha didn't have any vendors and if there were any, they wouldn't sell to a kid like him. No, he'd have to find them for himself, the thought was shelved for now, he moved on to the other two that sandwiched the potion. A **[Health Poultice]** wound heal by just applying it and the **[Stamina Powder]** could be taken with a drink. They would help him immensely and considering he was going to be a shinobi one day, they were vital for future events.

The **[Health Poultice]** called for **[Elfroot]** while the **[Stamina Powder]** needed a **[Mountain Flower]**. They both required **[Natural Water]** but gratefully Shikamaru had everything necessary to make them. He followed the recipes to the letter until he noticed the fire roar the same way it did when he was with Suzaku. The boy pulled out an Ingot with a pair of tongs, it glowed a wonderful orange red that blazed across the night like a beacon. His tools were pulled out and he began with a smash of his hammer.

The sounds bounded off the buildings and trees around him, creating a rhythmic beat that echoed into his ears. He didn't know it but the sights, motion and sounds lulled him into a trance. The act calmed him from the events earlier and it allowed him to focus his mind. He took advantage of the benefits to recall the weeks earlier.

His thoughts began with Choji. The friendly and kind Akimichi stayed by his side three times a week. On the days that he learned from his clan, the boy would ask Shikamaru to help try out the dishes he made. If the Akimichi wasn't required to be a Shinobi, Shikamaru would have thought the kid would end up as an amazing chef. A brewer too if his father's praise of the test wines Choji made were true. The boy would often carry a bag that held onto mostly his potato chips but aside from that were scrolls that held knives and small pots and pans for the next dish he would make. It didn't last long as one day he broke the very blade he used to chop and dice food to cook. Choji was distraught and getting a smith to make him a new knife would take too long. Akimichi only took made to order tools and Choji's had to wait half a year before he got a new one.

There were at times where Shikamaru felt bad for lazing around under a tree to nap or look at the clouds. Choji would always sit by him, munching on potato chips or converse a bit before returning home. He felt bad and especially hungry when Choji didn't cook when he laid on the grass. His favorite spots to nap had a permanent stone enclosure for some firewood and a stone slab to put a frying pan down. As a friend he wanted to do something for the guy so it was best to make a knife himself.

The glowing hot iron that vaguely looked like a Santoku was put back into the forge. He didn't even realize he finished the first part of forging until he sent sparks flying out of the second Ingot. It reminded him of the blasting excitement from Naruto which showed up to greet him _everyday_.

She'd come over to talk, ask if they could play and always- _always_ turned his mom into a slight mush when her eyes widened with a tremble of the lips just after a few words on how the Hokage suggested that she come over. His dad came home ashfaced nearly every week, regaling them on the pranks she made on unsuspecting kids her age and the adults around Konoha. One time she laced the dog treats with catnip, that ended in a scuffle between the two warring beasts, that was until it was saved by a forced hand from the Inuzuka.

Once a week, she'd sit beside him whenever he decided to face his dad in a game of shoji. Thinking she was left out, he asked if she wanted to learn. The girl responded with a near self deprecating smile and said she wasn't the smart kinda girl that could get the game, that made him literally cringe in the open. His mom was shocked and dropped a plate of tea and snack for the two of them. He refused to accept how pessimistic the girl was but before he could even start teaching her, they realized her lack of reading and writing comprehension.

They spent weeks teaching her how to refine her writing and made sure the girl read at least a page or two until eventually she was close to the same level as her peers. The hokage himself had gotten complaints by his mom about the girls lack of tutors and resolved herself to be that tutor, at least for the common everyday things.

The girl often watched shinobi trained and attempted to emulate them. He would try to ignore her words when they gotten to his favorite napping spots but instead he watched her flail in taijutsu and kenjutsu moves. He suggested the girl ask one of the shinobi to teach her and it earned a few snickers from said shinobi that she asked. It didn't leave his eyes when he saw them act respectfully while an underlying sense of fear permeated their forms. Maybe she would get a sensei, but for now if she wanted to learn, she'd have to do it herself.

Best to have something train with first. Swords were expensive, especially since shinobi villages that didn't rely on kenjutsu only had made to order blades. Naruto couldn't afford any and Shikamaru thought if he was making a knife for Choji, why not a training blade as well?

 **Skill Up!**

 **Basic Synthesis Lv.9**  
 **Basic Touch Lv.8**  
 **Steady Hands Lv7**  
 **Smithing Lv.9**  
 **Blueprinting Lv.8**  
 **Engineering Lv.8**  
 **Alchemy Lv.7**  
 **Cooking Lv.7**

 **Status Updated!**

 **Fatigue [Minor]**

 **Attribute Up!**

 **Str +1  
** **Con +1**

The second rod of iron landed into the forge to heat up once again and he went back to his alchemy table. The crackling of firewood complemented with the mortar and pestle as he mashed the plants in making his poultice. He continued the work ethic, switching between the two crafting windows until the moon moved farther and farther down the skyline. His poultices and powders were done and when the first glowing metal sizzled into the bath of oil, a grunt was heard from behind him.

Shikaku Nara with both a wry smile and narrowed eyes met in equal parts at him. Shikamaru didn't even notice he was sitting on a chair that was pulled over. The man must've been within arms reach for kami knows however long. He didn't even try to look embarrassed. He should have known, they were clan of ninjas afterall. The older man didn't say anything to let him continue on what he was doing. A raised eyebrow was all that he saw once the second iron went into the oil. An unspoken question was left out in the open.

"For Choji and Naruto", He shrugged out, his breath steady despite his crafting session from earlier. His father grunted in acknowledgement. He asked his own question with a hand on his hip while the other set aside the tongs on Suzaku's rack.

"Your mother was worried when she woke up." Ahh that was it. They both were, Shikamaru could tell the man was worried himself and tried not to let it be known even as the tension from the older man's shoulders loosened. Maybe he shouldn't have left the house like that.

Shikaku shook his head just when he was going to apologize. "Next time leave a note on the table or something." His eyes met with a smirk from the man whilst he pulled out the iron blades he worked on. The man inspected them with a hum and took one to the sharpening station.

They both took a seat and a comfortable silence permeated the area aside from the rhythmic sharpening and polishing. Shikaku's voice was the first that broke the night.

"Now that you're in the Academy. I don't expect you to put the effort in doing exceptional." He grunted in agreement. School was such a drag and everything they taught so far he already knew. "I don't see you doing it but, don't excell. Your mother and I want you to stay a kid a little longer."

"You don't want me on missions like Itachi-san." The man nodded from the corner of his eye. It was well known throughout Konoha that Itachi became genin at 7 and did solo missions at age 10. The ANBU didn't allow him in until age 11 and that lead to assassinations, more likely than not. The boy never looked or acted his age anymore, and Shikaku knew that. It was then that the Hokage forbid fast-tracking outside of direct wartime scenarios.

It confirmed as such with a curse, "It was a damn shame. Itachi was an innocent boy."

"I'll keep Naruto from moving too fast too." The man narrowed his eyes at him. He deflected it with a shrug and continued. "She's special right? It's not hard."

It earned a sigh and a grumble. The two quickly finished the sharpening and Shikamaru packed up all his things. Before he cleaned the rest of the forge, he was stopped by the man.

"I'll let Suzaku know. Lets head back."

 **Status Update!**

 **Item Crafted!**  
 **Iron Santoku [Common] [Sharp]**  
 **Tool**  
 **Damage: 5-6**  
 **One-Handed**

 **Iron Training Sword [Common] [Blunted]**  
 **Weapon**  
 **Damage: 6**  
 **One-Handed**

When training was finished, his mother forced him to help with cooking breakfast. Shikaku looked on at him with unrestrained amusement. The man sat by the table with papers in his hands while he had to cut up vegetables until a loud bang came from the door.

"Shikamaru!" The high pitched voice that could only have come from Naruto continued even while she greeted his parents. "Academy!"

"Slow down Naruto-chan. It's only been two weeks since you started. You'll burn out if you keep it up like this." Yoshino playfully scolded the girl. A bashful smile met it and Naruto shoved her way in between the him and his mother. He moved just in time to share the stool or else one of them would fall. Most likely him. Eyes scanned the cutting board, her lips curled into disgust. "Vegetables, gross."

You don't have to tell me twice, he thought. She'd always complain every time the breakfast table had anything remotely vegetable like. With a glare and scolding that was used to be reserved for him and his dad, the girl reluctantly ate them each time. His mom made sure to make the food especially palatable to the girl, extra sugar or a sauce that would overcome the flavor of bitter melon or fun and crispy textures if they had radish. So far the girl got less and less disgusted by the food. He felt as if she kept the act going at least. Any kind of vegetable outside of the Nara household though, she'd throw it away. No questions asked.

It started when the academy began. Naruto came over to drag him out of bed to get to school and when the nagging started, her stomach roared when the food got to the table. It startled everyone in the house, leading the girl to never be allowed to leave until her stomach was full. Nobody stopped Yoshino Nara when she had a goal. The unofficial 4th plate became a standard to the dining table and he was forced to help in making the girls dishes. He grumbled along the way but wouldn't dare to argue with the matriarch.

Another knife was laid in front of the girl beside him and a few blocks of tofu followed. "Mind helping me with miso soup, Naruto-chan?"

"Okay!" There she goes. Naruto would try and soak up as much attention as she could. She loved it; good or bad she loved having someone give her the time of day. Probably the reason why she did all the pranks and annoyingly asked higher ranked shinobi to teach her. It brought a twisted combination of a smile and a frown whenever it happened. Shikamaru got used to masking it. Yoshino always kept a clean knife just for the girl to teach.

Breakfast today was a standard layout of rice, grilled mackerel, pickled sides, miso soup, and the added bonus of mixed vegetable tempura. They ate slowly, relishing the morning even as Naruto went a little faster than them. The girl had issues with stray rice once and awhile, but it was a vast improvement compared to the abysmal etiquette like before where everything flew on the table and on her face.

When they reached outside of the house, Shikamaru drew out his creation wrapped in a vermillion cloth. The particular shade of orange Naruto liked was way too bright and it hurt his eyes. If he was going to make things, he was going to color code them to be at least not be painful to look at.

The girl stared at it for a few seconds until he nudged it closer for her to take. Gingerly, the hands glided over the light cotton that protected the item within from natural wear and tear. Her eyes widened almost comically as she took in the blade in her hands.

It didn't have a sheath but the thing was only polished to a shine so it wasn't sharp at all. It's tip was blunted to a flat edge while both sides were also blunted. A seam jutted out the middle which anyone with an eye could easily tell it was originally a kunai. An orange wrap covered the long handle while a piece of iron in the shape of an egg with it's top flattened replaced the pommel of a kunai ring.

"To practice kenjutsu. It's not pretty, but i'll do." If Shikamaru was given a chance to really access his blade, everything he just said was true. It looked pretty ugly in his opinion. When he designed the thing in the blueprint manager, his only priority was to get the damn thing with an even weight distribution and a workable form factor. He wasn't a swordsmen, but he knew if anyone used a weapon, it didn't matter if it was pretty, as long as it got the job done for what it was made for than it was good in their books.

Naruto shook her head vigorously as they walked to the Academy. With a few practice swings that ended up with a clumsy twist with the wrist, she wrapped it back up and used the cloth to put it around her shoulder. Her eyes bright the moment she responded, "It's great, arigato ttara!"

They continued with their walked to the academy, there was no chaperone and they didn't need one. Shikamaru was responsible and mature compared to his peers while Naruto kept getting the stink eyes from most of Konoha, no one would dare try something, especially when the academy was in the same building as the hokage's office.

As their destination neared, off in the corner came Hinata with two older hyuga to guard her. It didn't seem odd as Hinata's clan held a decorum for tradition and especially guarded their secrets. Choji followed soon after from another direction as well as a bunch of other kids around their age, some a few years ahead of them while others were of their same class. Naruto dashed off ahead to meet up with the other girl while he dragged along to greet Choji.

"Morning Shika." The Akimichi greeted with a few crumbs being swiped with a napkin. The boy was eating again. He was usually hungry, especially when the Academy didn't allow snacks during class.

He nodded his own greeting and wordlessly handed the boy the second item he created earlier in the morning. Choji curiously opened the red cloth and gasped. The morning sun shined on the sparkling iron polished to a near perfection, bright ash wood from it's hilt bore a startling contrast to the dark metal. Choji looked up at him in barely contained excitement.

He shrugged. It didn't stop the other kid from thanking him while the Santoku edge being tested with a finger. Naruto soon came up with Hinata in tow, already staring and listening intently at the blonde's fervorous words about her gift.

"G-good morning Shikamaru-kun, Choji-kun." He nodded once the girl repressed a wince from her right side, she leaned to the left, hoping to reduce the amount of weight and therefore pain. His eyes narrowed, it seems Choji and Naruto hadn't noticed. Both Hinata's chaperones gave her no mind, they either noticed and didn't care, or they ignored it.

Hinata was a sweet and kind girl. This he found out quite easily when they first met thanks to Naruto's introduction. The lavender eyed girl was always reserved and especially timid. Stuttering when speaking and always looked like a surprised doe when Naruto wanted her opinion. Compared to Ino, Hinata was very conservative even at this age; baggy clothes that covered nearly every inch of her form, constrained energy when active, and always let the more assertive Naruto take charge.

"Have you been training?" He spoke noncommittally, open to interpretation, and unfocused to allow everyone to hear his words. He wanted to specify Hinata, but chose not to make a scene. Naruto would make a big deal of it and Choji would look on in concern.

The three Hyuga stiffened in reaction, Hinata's eyes bore straight into him with a look of pleading as she switched between him and Naruto.

"I've just barely started on clan techniques. Dad's been more focused on getting me to learn more of our clan and what we do." Choji was the first to answer. Hinata smiled in thanks even when the boy didn't understand.

He nodded. It wasn't a secret between the Ino-Shika-Cho clans that one knew some of the other's activities. Choji's clan needed a certain amount of chakra level and they needed to learn the basics of chakra before they could do anything. Choji needed to wait before he could safely train. This wasn't his goal. The statement was for Hinata, though he didn't want to create a scene. Naruto frowned with crossed arms. "Naruto?"

"I tried getting Ojiisan to teach me but he blew me off for paperwork… I looked for the nee-san again but haven't seen her in awhile." The frustration could be felt a mile away. Naruto was a orphan, let alone a clanless child. She didn't have either a clan or parents to guide her when it came to being a shinobi. The Academy was all she could use to train. Even then, it had only been a few weeks or so of classes and all they've done was theory.

Clanless shinobi and children that underwent the academy could use the public archives which held various ninjutsu and techniques however… Shikamaru grimaced at the memory of Naruto being less than gently kicked out. Barred from the institution.

Everyone's eyes went straight to Hinata. In habit, her fingers prodded each other and teeth clacked softly, pulling the lower lip back when she spoke, "I've been learning my clan's taijutsu."

His eyes narrowed as Hinata's attention went over to Naruto's enthusiasm. The Hyuga was still not used to how close and physical Naruto was but the blonde's sudden questions let the other girl relax. The heiress tried her best to answer whatever question was given with a smile yet tried to keep most secret as per clan rules.

Choji seemed to caught on to his intent. The boy's gaze stayed on him as he thought in his head. Clan teachings were never rough, at least in his opinion. His father was always gentle and made sure to not create any damage until he was ready for it. Taijutsu let alone the Hyugas' required a firm control over chakra. Any teacher of Hinata's should be a master in it. It was unless they purposely trained her with the intent to harm.

He saw though Hinata's stance. Her weight leaned off one side not to give undue pain to the ribs, her left arm was sluggish compared to her other while a thigh was held steady by a hand. The girls' attention went to him when he sighed. As he looked into his waist bag, he had little of what he made. No ingredients he mused. Hands went slowly into the bag and out came a piece of folded paper in a triangle as well as a clay jar the size of his palm.

"Just a little of the powder per cup will help out with fatigue. The jar's a lotion that should ease pain and help with healing." He instructed. The girl with hesitance took the offered items with a hand. He continued while the two older hyuga looked on, "If it gets too intense for you."

Before the girl could respond, Naruto lept in with whine, her hands already shaking the collar of his shirt, "Why don't I get any?"

"You haven't started training." He responded with a smirk. Loud screams and squeals interrupted their conversation. With their heads turned around towards the commotion, a bunch of girls around their age looked pointedly at a pair of Uchiha walking down the road. He was genuinely relieved the girls next to him didn't follow suit. Ino was more than enough, thank you.

Shisui walked on with a kind smile as usual, his demeanor unperturbed by the squeals that were directed at his companion. The kid next to him, a Sasuke if he remembered right glared and tried his best not to cringe at the volume. Shisui chuckled when the younger rushed into the building, trying his best to not get caught. The teen's gaze landed on them.

"You kids ready to be ninjas?" The teen's jolly tone only made him scoff. It earned a chuckle and his hair became the ever first casualty since the Uchiha became an acquaintance. Luckily or maybe no so luckily, Naruto was the first to greet, and with a much more graceful flourish than earlier, the sight of his creation became front in center. Shisui hummed and a sly smirk that should never be on an Uchiha grew.

This was bad. Oh so very bad. He remembered the last time his clan occupations became purview and that was when the Uchiha strong armed him with one of Naruto's pleading eyes and Choji's pitiful frown.

"Shikamaru made that." It wasn't even a question. The guy knew who the culprit was and oh so very slowly he took out a folded page of parchment paper and handed it to him.

"Say, did Shikamaru agree to making stuff for Itachi and I back in the commons land?"

No! No he didn't agree. He said maybe. It wasn't a yes, you vindictive raven! He had no intention of making any more. Those two were just something to do when he had the time. Too much work. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to wake up earlier all the time to make things.

"Oh, but you sure took care in making a training blade for Naruto. Wasn't that a lot of work?"

Shit, he thought that out loud. The growing smirk became a full grin when he figured it out. Naruto looked on, he ignored the growing watery eyes before she crashed into his frame. Her strength was beyond a child's. How else would she be able to hold him up with just a hug?!

There was no way he was going to turn his head into Choji's or even Hinata's direction. Kami knows what they looked like. With a sigh he mumbled, "Troublesome."

"You're not getting out of this one, you little stag." Oh now that was going to far. A Nara would only get their nickname during their 8th year of age, on July 15th, the Nioh Matsuri. Few outside the Ino-Shika-Cho attended since most of the village would be drunk or frolicking from Nachi no Ogi Matsuri, the night earlier. It wasn't hard to keep it contained, especially when he had yet to earn any epithet. His glare did little to intimidate the Uchiha.

With an explosive sigh, Shikamaru surrendered, but with a twist of his own. He reached up only halfway to his chest as Naruto still held him up and gestured the universal sign of payment. "Not free."

"Hai, hai. I'll pay. How much ryo do you think you can squeeze out of me?" The poorly worded jab at his predicament did little to take away the deadpan. Naruto's deathgrip slowly came undone.

"Materials" The blink from Shisui told much on how he didn't see that one coming. With a finger up to his lips the gears churned to do the math. With a nod and an equally stern expression the Uchiha approved of the deal.

"Smart. Ryo is easier to obtain compared to the materials a craftsman would need. It's why Smiths only work on commission since the ore they need are more expensive and would get them bankrupt if they stockpiled weapons for shinobi." He give him a thumbs up, "You got a deal. I'll be needing them in about a month's time."

Shisui left after conversing with the rest of the group soon followed by the Hyuga chaperones. Naruto spoke on how she would definitely ask for stuff when she thought something would be cool. He could only huff tiredly. Just because it would be cool, didn't mean it would work. The kids soon went inside.

Throughout the entire exchange, Shikamaru couldn't ignore the amount of malice and killing intent that was aimed at Hinata by another Hyuga from a different class. Whatever was going on, he didn't want to get involved. Clan issues were troublesome. He narrowed his eyes in concentration. Plans ran too and fro from within while he ignored Ino screaming out with some pink haired girl beside her.

That didn't mean he couldn't give someone a handicap.

"Who would like to read the next passage? Anyone?" The teacher scanned the crowd and grimaced when Naruto raised up her hand. It was promptly used as a backhanded joke which had most of the class laughing. Another student was picked to read.

Class was boring. Period. Worse was that it pissed him off. Mizuki- _sensei_ was an alright teacher in of itself. The issue was how bias he was against Naruto! The amount of malice that permeated the air coupled with the occasional glare and rough verbal jabs did little to get him on the Nara's good side. Naruto was constantly made fun of by some other students, most civilians, and Mizuki didn't do squat to straighten his class out. Hell, the man didn't even give the girl the time of day for reteaching anything she missed, and she missed a lot. He and his mom were going to have to pick up the slack.

"J-just another h-half hour Naruto-chan." Hinata whispered beside the girl. He grunted in agreement from the other side. The group of four took seats beside each other closer to the windows. Choji sat by it, followed by him, Naruto, Hinata, and Ino who was incredibly annoyed that she couldn't get to sit next to her Sasuke-kun. She was nice to everyone enough. He knew, the girl may not join her father whenever he visited anymore but if she was anything like her parent, everything was fine.

Classes went in two hour blocks with two hours of break time before the last class. The teachers would rotate as per schedule and sadly, the first class of Tuesdays were Reading and Writing, by Mizuki. Heavens above, he thanked whatever kami out there that only gave the man one class. He really wanted to fall asleep but Mizuki's hate set his game into overdrive.

 **Skill up!**

 **Bloodlust Detection Lv.8**

He grumbled silently, shrugging when Naruto took her attention away to check what was wrong. Most teachers didn't have high expectations for the girl. Rather, most took heed in not bothering her too much. They didn't actively attempt in destroying her progress as a shinobi, but they certainly didn't help. Man, what a drag. What was the problem between Naruto and the people of this village anyway?

The second class was taught by an Akimiachi named Maruten, survival skills were easy to learn, at least to him. It was then followed by the gender specific classes instead of a full break. He guessed they wanted it to make it interchangeable with break time. Iruka-sensei screamed at anyone that tried to sleep. Shikamaru kinda liked the young man. Iruka was genuine, earnest in trying to help his student and he neither had the hate or the disinterest that the other teachers had towards Naruto.

Too bad that wasn't enough to keep him occupied. With his eyes heavy and the room calm with barely any disruption, Shikamaru firmly went to sleep.

" _Sensei!" A young voice rang out just lowly enough to not leave the vicinity. He turned his head from the beautiful display in front of him to look back in shock. A child with chestnut skin and spiky hair that wore a dark blue tunic gaped. In an instant he dropped from his ledge to kneel down._

 _He raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Now now, Hiru…"_

" _How could you, sensei?" Hiru tightened his fists dramatically. A lone tear could be seen. The child's voice raised just a hair, "You made today a break day because of this?!"_

 _He ruffled the soft unruly hair of his with a wry smile, "You needed the rest. We've been training for weeks without time to allow our bodies to adapt."_

" _You're just down that Hashirama-oji is to be married to Mito-sama!"_

 _He stubbed his toe on a upturned rock, now it wasn't because of what his student said. Definitely not. He had to sigh; The village was barely growing into something that resembled like a town under the fledgling daimyos but it was a combined effort of various ninja clans. They had the time to rest, although his students really did want to train._

 _He recalled a promise to help teach young Hiru on how to work with his summon. He wasn't going to get the chance on partaking in the... feminine activities anymore and the boy was too young to even try to distract or get him to join. With a resigned grunt he spoke back, "Alright, alright."_

" _Don't alright us!" Another voice came along to the side behind a tree. He grimaced at the righteous anger from within Hiru's second and third teammate. A boy with a styled fringe and glasses stood by the girl that spoke. The purple ribbon that held her hair up bounced wildly as she walked to Hiru._

 _Seriously. All he ordered was a day of fun and rest for the three students, he thought the kids would be happy to meet up with their friends and enjoy themselves, instead, he got a tongue lashing. "Sensei! You promised you'd teach all of us! Homura and I wanted to learn a new jutsu and Saru keeps hurting himself because he can't work with Enma."_

" _Did you hear a voice?" The man nearly panicked at the sounds that came from behind the wall and he grabbed his students. They stubbornly tried to get him off of them but he was too powerful. With a shinshun technique the group of four stopped by a clearing just outside Konoha._

 _With a sigh he pulled out a scroll, opening to reveal tools that laid on the ground. A wide selection of weapons, some hidden, some exotic, glimmered in the sunlight of mid day summer. He took a bo staff and threw it to his student, gesturing the other two to pick a weapon._

" _Since you asked so nicely, This'll be extra credit. Hiru! Bring out Enma!"_

 _The boy had an eager smile that replaced his earlier anger and with inexperienced hands summoned a little monkey to his side. "Hai, Sensei!"_

 _The students jumped back when he kicked Enma who landed with a grumble around a set of stones. He pointed at the monkey, then to Hiru. "From now on, until I see you able to wield Enma, you are forbidden from working together with him."_

" _Wha!" He stopped the complaint before it even began with a palm._

" _How do you expect you and your summon to work together if you two don't even trust each other? Furthermore, Enma knows you have no experience in bo staff fighting. He's been trying to take control whenever you make sloppy movements."_

 _Knowing the teacher went into lecture mode, Hiu stared at the wooden bo staff in his hands and listened intently to the instructions. "If your summon has no confidence in your abilities, show it to him. This is what we're going to do today until further notice. Enma, you better watch!"_

 _With a few motions with his own bo staff, the man did a set of kata very slowly as to let his student follow it step by step. The boy was sloppy at first, but the weight of the staff was good and the grip was firm. A good start. The other two students picked a weapon themselves to learn and he did the same to teach the two like Hiru._

 _A small smile came to his lips when the three students advanced rapidly to the point where he was confident in having them spar. Hiru needed to learn a few more kata but the boy was already gaining confidence while Homura had the signs of leaning closer to fire affiliation. The child's blade had a layer of near invisible fire that held a weak edge. He'd have to start on chakra elements a little earlier than the other kids their age._

" _Oya~_ _[*h*a*]_ _-dono looks fatherly in front of his genin." With a dry grin he looked back to see a woman that wore a white and red kimono._

 _With a fold of his arms he tried his best to ignore her and focus on his students._

"Shikamaru!" His eyes forced themselves open silently, head lifted up to look around and noticed it was darker than expected. Naruto continued with a scold, "It's already 4. School's over."

He tried focusing on the girl in front of him, yet with half the mind still asleep and the other processing what he dreamed. The image in front of him looked just like the girl he saw before, with red hair and a mark on her forehead. "Mito?"

"Who's Mito datebayyo?" Pink dusted his cheeks in embarrassment. He didn't mean to blurt it out loud and he shrugged, explaining it was nothing but a jumbled bit of words. If he had the higher rank of perception and his mind clear from the dream before, he could have noticed the shift in Naruto eyes. Red instead of Blue that lasted only a few moments.

He grunted while arms moved up to stretch. He skipped two whole classes and surprise took over him. Didn't anyone try to wake him up before hand? The joints that cracked felt so satisfying. Hinata and Choji were still there and it seems that most students hadn't left yet. Guess the class just ended.

"Out like a log ttara. Even waking up takes so long for you." The blonde grumbled. He barely heard a 'lazy boy' under her breath and Hinata softy reprimanded her out of concern.

"Did I miss anything?" He asked Choji. It was best to figure out now before something were to happen. Gladly the response was a shake of the head. Huh, well if it wasn't important, he didn't need to worry about it.

That being said, his mind was occupied with what occured in his dream. The gathering of supplies and walking out the school, including a dress down from teachers were ignored. He kept an eye on the event and chat logs to keep up to date on everything being said. It wasn't until Itachi that appeared in front of the four that took him out of his musing.

In the teen's hands were a cloth woven bag, a small amount of clinking were heard in his ears. The teen himself didn't show any sign of emotion, just a blank face. Sasuke off to the side noticed his brother appearing and wanted to rush up. Instead, a gaggle of girls surrounded him. Shikamaru could tell the corners of the teen's lips twitched slightly.

"Itachi-san." Shikamaru could feel the start of a glower that Sasuke had half the street away. The guy tried valiantly to get away from the girls, it did little in deterring them from trying to talk to him.

"Aren't you gonna help Sasuke?" Choji piped in with a question. The teen's lips twitched again. The older brother was amused at the younger's predicament.

Sasuke was promptly ignored while Itachi lifted up the bag like it was nothing. "I brought some materials."

That was fast, really fast. A voice in the back of his head murmured that Shisui or Itachi already knew what he wanted as a trade before he even was going to agree. It didn't bother him as much as it should. They were shinobi after all. With a sigh he reached out to take the bag, but instead it was pulled back.

"Shisui and I will be coming with you."

Naruto bounced up and down, she turned to the Hyuga heiress and took the girl into a hug. "Come with us Hinata-chan! If Shikamaru is making things, don't you want to get something too?"

Pale fingers poked and prodded each other in reserved hesitance. He sighed and from the jolly look Naruto was giving him, he relented with a nod. It wasn't like Hinata was banned from the Nara grounds. It was public for a reason. He had to chock it up to Hyuga politeness. Choji already knew he was welcome, same with anyone else really.

Poor Sasuke was manhandled when they left. Itachi had a good mood during the entire trip.

Suzaku greeted the group when they reached him. A lot of other Nara introduced themselves with the young Hyuga heiress while Naruto kept asking on what each craftsmen were up to. No words needed to be said when Itachi plopped the contents of the bag out on a table for all to see. Suzaku snickered at his predicament and let him use a part of the forge.

The same screens as before appeared just like the other times. He pulled out his hammer from his bag and set it aside. He went on to check what Shisui wanted done, Itachi looked over his shoulder, explaining to him which everything was and if there were any specific changes that they needed.

Choji talked with some of the Herbalists and an Akimichi supplier holding onto various crates filled with herbs. The boy wanted to test out the knife he made and promptly showed it off to his clansmen. He explained on how he was going to make a snack of some kind. Choji had better not make dinner. His mom would be angry as hell itself if she made something that wasn't going to be eaten.

Hinata sat by Naruto to the side. The girl looked completely lost on what to do. Naruto took it in stride and made it her mission to explain how everything was done around the Nara grounds.

Shisui soon came later when he was planning out what he was going to make. The Uchiha bowed in greeting before standing by Itachi to watch him. Naruto took that as a good time to ask for sword training but was gently refused. "Naruto-chan, you need to learn Taijutsu first. You need a foundation before you start using tools."

He ignored the rest when Naruto soon began to complain. The work order had a list of tools and weapons he certainly had no idea how to make.

 **Blueprints Added!**

Guess he thought wrong. The game auto updated, now it was his turn. There were few modifications on them so it was going to be pretty easy. Some of the weapons needed other materials like wood for the Kama sickles and chains were something he didn't want to work on right now. The Uchigatana it was.

 **Mission Accepted!**

 **ANBU Undercover Mission Weapons**  
 **Finish Shisui's Work Order!**  
 **Rank: D**

 **2x Kama**  
 **2x Sai**  
 **2x Suntetsu**  
 **2x Gunsen**  
 **1x Kusari-Fundo**  
 **1x Tanto**  
 **1x Uchigatana**

 **Reward: ?**

With a grunt, the mission parameters blazed off to the side of his eyes. So this was going to an ANBU team huh? The pressure was on now. A poorly made item would cost a life. He gulped, hopefully it didn't come to that. They were only gonna use it as props for undercover right? Why else would they let an academy student make weapons for them?

Metal was thrown into the fire, it was simple iron. Itachi never wanted anything expensive and he wanted Iron specifically not to make it look or seem higher than it actually was. Now he knew. No one that was undercover wanted something special or expensive unless the identity needed it to be special. Thanks to his title automatically given to him in the morning, the process was a lot smoother and faster. Suzaku could only look on in slight surprise when he pulled out an already glowing metal bar when he started to hammer it.

A katana was different from most weapons, regardless if it was of good quality materials, the determinant attribute all katana had was that it had layers. Hot metal folded together to make it tougher, stronger and sharper. At least that was what many say. Whether the fact was true or not didn't matter. The folds naturally made the blade curve, and that was what he was aiming for. The entire work method was given to him by the game of his so it felt almost second nature to him when he slid a the first metal material to the second.

An Uchigatana was the descended by the Tachi as said from his encyclopedia. It was also a weapon used by the lowest rank or status of sword users. Shinobi didn't care about it but from average citizen and Daimyos' eyes, Uchigatana were used by footsolders. If he could guess, The ANBU were going to be undercover under the guise of compound guards of some nobleman.

He shook his head as he smashed the hammer down again. Don't think about it, no need to waste more effort and brain power over this. What the ANBU did were for the Hokage's eyes only.

When he pulled out the weapon from its oil wash he frowned.

 **Status Updated!**

 **Stress [Moderate]: Add Berserk Effect**

 **Berserk [Minor]**

The blade was horrible, misshapen and structural weaknesses piled high on his item screen. Sure, it could be used for a few missions and leave it at that but he was extremely miffed. The quality was set on the normal setting although honestly, he wouldn't be caught dead handing that to ANBU even it wasn't going to be used and just be for ornamental uses. He tossed the thing straight into the 'to be melted' pile. Suzaku and most viewers yelled out in protest.

Unnamed Uchigatana [Common] [Blunt]

"It's no good!" He called over the fire. He stared at the piles of materials just given to him. They looked good, pretty high quality and seemed at least to be Iron. He tossed those into the fire and waited. A ping called out into his eyes and he read the updates.

"What did he mean it's no good?"

 **Skill Up!**

 **Basic Synthesis Lv.10**  
 **Basic Touch Lv.9**  
 **Steady Hands Lv.8**  
 **Smithing Lv.10**

 **Ability Gained!**

 **Chakra Strike**  
 **Cost: 5 Chakra Points**  
 **Cooldown: 4 Seconds**  
 **Damage: +5**  
 _Each time you attack, infuse chakra in pulses just before impact to add more damage and effect into your move. Note, your weapons and tools will lose durability and eventually break once they reach the threshold._

 **Crafting Options Available!**

 **Chakra Infused Crafting  
** _Infuse your Chakra into the items and tools you use to craft. This will increase the quality of your work and decrease the chance of your crafting end in failure._

He could do that? The description was pretty straight forward. If it could help him in making items for the ANBU. Why not do it? He overheard the voices from Suzaku and Shisui. He ignored them but caught tidbits of their conversation. The event log helped out in understanding what it was.

"I'd be able to use this for a few missions at least before it broke on me. It's decent. Better if used for training."

"I can see the problems with it but just going to be used for a cover? I'd take this."

"Let me see it." A new voice popped out of nowhere. He turned his head over to see a woman with purple hair and casual clothes on by the two Uchiha. Naruto jumped up from her spot and ran up to her. She got a pat on the head and the woman was quickly caught up to speed.

Shisui handed the blade over to the swordswoman. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, Yugao-chan. I said I'd get the supplies, you guys didn't need to worry about it."

She ignored him for the sword and spoke out her thoughts, "It's not bad."

"See I-"

"But it's not good either." She looked at him intently just as the metal was pulled out to be hammered. "Didn't know someone as inexperienced as him would see what's wrong with it."

His first strike was a shock to everyone around him. The shinobi gazed intently when they noticed the green glow from his hammer. The shockwave was small, but the sound was loud, loud enough for everyone in the grounds to hear him. He grunted at the exertion, but continued. The Chakra drain was pretty low and from what he understood he only used the moment the hammer hit the metal. Sparks flared and dusted all around him, his screen glowed each time a strike hit true.

 **Status Updated!**

 **Weapon Created!**  
 **Shika-Den Uchigatana [Uncommon] [Blunt]**  
 **Damage: 14**  
 **Weight: Light-Medium**  
 **One-handed : Two-handed  
** _"A katana forged by a swordsmith of the Nara. The shallow curve of the blade makes it excellent for both thrusting and slicing."_ **  
**

He dried himself off with a towel and nodded at his newest creation. He was curious about how the color of the item's name was green but he'd look into it later. His eyes met up with Suzaku's open jaw and noticed a lot more people showed up to watch.

Aside from the Yugao woman, a few more Ninja appeared beside the woman, and his father and mother appeared. Yoshino had an excited look to her face while his dad pondered. To the side were Choji's dad and Ino finally appeared with her own dad. They held a few bags that had the Nara Apothecary sign on it so he could only guess they showed up to pick up some salves.

"What?"

Suzaku smacked his forehead to a palm and wallowed, "What, he says! Shikaku, your son's a prodigy!" The man grumbled before taking his blade to sharpen, "What, my ass. Didn't teach him nothin and he's already using Chakra with crafting. I thought the Academy didn't teach that until the second quarter of the first year!"

He didn't get it but raised an eyebrow at his father. _You said not to excel in school. I'm tired._

"..." The man sighed, and before he could get a word in, Shisui roughly patted his back. He lurched forward, the strength was too much. Stars that sparkled in his friends' eyes were firmly ignored.

"Wow, If that's what you call 'good enough', I can't wait to see what you make in the future!" Shisui joked, Itachi nodded in agreement.

Yugao test swung the finished blade after it was polished and fixed up with a hilt, guard and sheath. "I should get my tools from the Nara Heir from now on."

"To bad we can't use it for the mission. It's quality is too high, even if it's an Uchigatana with no engraving on it. Any one with the eye can tell this thing is worth a pretty penny."

He grumbled. Great, more work.

 _Hey, Tobi-chan! Can I get a sword like that too!?_

 _Nii-Sama, This is for Lightning elements as a primary chakra affiliation. It'll do bad for your Earth and Water._

 _I Don't care!_

 _...Fine, I'll make something for you too._

He shook his head against a sudden memory. He grabbed his hammer to return to work. His mom cheered him along the way while scolding his father playfully.


	6. Chapter 6

**Profile(s) will come next chapter.**

 **New release schedule is set up at profile. General rule. As soon as I can write it again.**

 **I am sorry, and I just wanted to write…** _ **something**_

* * *

 **0000**

* * *

"Fight me!" a child's voice echoed in the meadow outside the Shinobi Academy.

 _What a drag_ Shikamaru thought, looking at his Uchiha classmate through half lidded eyes. The other boy started hounding him with threats and challenges since the time he made the unofficial name for himself as an up and coming craftsmen with the Nara.

That was a year ago.

He groaned at the thought. Since the day he ' _did the improbable,'_ everyone, and he meant _**everyone**_ , showed up on Nara clan grounds. While some didn't look for him specifically, the rumor mill started.

 _The Nara Heir's been blessed by the Kami of Crafts._ Somehow he felt odd trying to resist grimacing at that memory. What was more interesting was that it wasn't just him that tried to avoid looking like they ate a lemon, his clan members also did the same. Overtime the green text labeled sword was kept in his inventory, and he didn't expect to sell it after realizing no one wanted the thing. His dad mentioned he might get into contact with Samurai from the land of Iron, as soon as he was able to anyway.

Eventually, those who came for him personally had been acquainted with the audience he was around during that day. Uzuki Yugao brought Gekko Hayate, who brought Shiranui Genma, who _**brought his teammates**_ , who brought _**their friends**_ …. That wasn't even coming from his mom or Ino. Oh just Ino and her dad; they spread the word(Those gossipers), so much so that he practically met _**every Jonin and ANBU**_ (Undercover) in the region because of them. Even the _**Hokage**_ was there! There to congratulate his success and praise for his ingenuity of using chakra so early.

"Hey! You hear me, Nara?! Fight me!"

He couldn't help but sigh and stare up into the clouds. The sounds of Chouji munching on some chips off to the side was quickly followed up by grass being smashed from footfall. Naruto's blonde hair passed his half-lidded view as the girl got right up to the Uchiha with a scowl. "What're you doin, Duckbutt!?"

"What'd you say dead last?!" On an instinct that was refined day after day from the same event, Sasuke pushed with full force. The two kids glared at each other, unmindful of a growing crowd of invested bystanders.

The blonde girl snorted, pulling on her own hair that reached her cheek for emphasis. "Duckbutt, cuz your hair looks like a duck's butt!"

"No it doesn't!" Sasuke's whine countered his entire attitude from earlier. A common occurrence that only made his admirer's blush.

The blonde pushed her face right up against him with a glare, "Yeah, yeah it does!"

"No! Stop antagonizing Sasuke-kun!" If he had the energy, he'd roll his eyes when Sakura, the pink haired girl with green eyes, nudged herself in between the two. It happened practically every day and he couldn't get any sleep in. "We don't need another one of your fights."

Ino, another girl, rushed up to yank on his collar. The beginnings of a red welt grew at his neck as she shook him to make sure he was awake (he was) and whispered, "Come on Shikamaru! Fight him already! Let Sasuke-kun stop following you around so he can look at _me_."

He groaned in a way that made the girl more angry and dragged himself off the ground to a sitting position.

"Why'd you wanna fight the boring Nara anyway? He looks half dead with those circles under his eyes." Remarked a boy with red tattoos on the side of his face, named Kiba, and a puppy perched on his shoulders came up to visit as well. The dog barked just as he continued, "Akamaru agrees!"

"He forfeits during sparring classes. Why?" The Aburame, a boy covered head to toe with jacket, high collar hoodie, and sunglasses answered stoically, earning a large breather room from their class' normal students. "Because he also considers that as boring, not just because he is tired."

If the Aburame was insulted by the reaction, he didn't show it. Instead the boy was stoic as usual while he hovered around the group. Shikamaru wondered how and why the small group that surrounded him suddenly grew to be so large.

He sighed, only to earn a returned glare from the Uchiha, which then earned a huge growl from Naruto. Soon the moment Sasuke ignored the girl in favor of willing to force a fight, causing Naruto to pounce at the boy with both of them tumbling around the grass.

Kiba pumped his fists up. "Naruto's at it again!"

"A-another fight?" Hinata squeaked out hurriedly, coming up to try, and Shikamaru meant _**try**_ , to get the blonde off the other boy.

It didn't look like a fight at all, more like shout filled roughhousing expected from kids their age. They landed around the damp areas as dirt and grime got all over their faces and clothes. Both kids blew raspberries at each other as they rolled in a circle on the hill Shikamaru was using as a napping spot while the class split up to rally behind their prospective fighter. He raised a brow at the changing of candy or money off to the side, an often occurrence of gamiling that were rarely if ever frowned at. There was biting, hair pulling, cheap punches, and grappling, all the while the crowd cheered or gasped in reaction. It was like a ball game, but with more shouting.

Naruto grunted from a bow to the ribs. "Why'd you wanna fight him anyway?"

"I don't need to explain that to you!" The raven haired boy yelled out in equal parts fury and pain after having his hair tugged.

Shikamaru groaned, having enough of the bothersome fight. "Is it because your brother?"

His words made the Sasuke halt mid punch, avoiding it being connected squarely on the blonde's temple. The boy gaped as he continued. "It's not going to work."

The majority of the crowd uttered a disappointing _aww_ as Naruto kicked Sasuke off of her, giving him a raspberry. The kid figured it out after he said the magic words, and added her own input, "Even if you do beat him."

Sasuke huffed with his nose upturned at her. The pineapple head shrugged, of course the Uchiha would beat him. He may not have been the best or the worst if he took it seriously, but Shikamaru was _realistic_.

"And he will. I just wanna see the damage. Right Akamaru?" Kiba interrupted with a toothy grin, the puppy on his head barked in agreement. He turned his head in embarrassment as the blonde frowned, her words nearly cut off as she tried to change her voice.

"Itachi-san is just gonna say good job with a smirk." The girl said, imitating the voice as best as she could, continuing with her right hand up, two fingers together and walking as menacing as she could to the raven haired boy. She continued, mimicking the actions in mid air, "And say foolish brother! Then poke you in the forehead."

"How do you know about that?!"

"Duckbutt, You have a mark there. **All. The. Time.** " Her last few words were punctuated with a following tap on the Uchiha.

"Troublesome." He groaned, fast enough to prevent another fight from starting. The two were about to pounce at each other as he started, "There are better ways to get your brother to spend time with you."

"How?" Sasuke quickly whipped himself around. "Don't keep me in suspense!"

Much of the crowd (meaning Sasuke's fans) noticeably leaned in with their ears towards him, unabashedly waiting for his answer as if it were a cheat to getting the Uchiha's attention.

"Troublesome." Skiamaru gestured with his head towards the group, letting the others, especially Sasuke to frown as he continued. "After school. You don't want all your fans to find out right?"

"...point taken."

* * *

 **0000**

* * *

The academy then went on as usual, except the difference being Sasuke now moved his seat closer to him. That only got the rest to crowd around him even more, just to get near Sasuke.

Once the students quieted down Togeito-sensei went on about the basics of _Ninjutsu_ ; specifically _Fuinjutsu_ and what it did. Commonly fuinjutsu was a widely used and applied jutsu, but the amount of experts and masters were less than fifty in all of the elemental nations. Fuinjutsu applied to sealing objects, people, chakra, and a bunch of other things inside something else. It was also a skill that allowed users to restrict movement, unseal things, paralyse, sleep, enhance… just about anything as the sensei became more and more vague about the subject. What was really odd during the class that Shikamaru noticed was that the sensei hid a lot of information, but most of the class didn't stop him from skipping entire portions to talk about summoning jutsus and barrier jutsus, sub-topics under fuinjutsu. He just went back to sleep, not bothering to get the attention.

Only if it were so easy; When school finished everyone knew what Sasuke was going to find him and get his answer.

 _Better stand up_

"Nara!" Shikamaru grunted following the voice of the Uchiha rushing at him with incredible speed. He wrist was held tightly just as the force jerked his shoulder, making him follow without his say so. Kiba and Akamaru appeared just behind him in the corner of his vision. He turned with the guiding hand outdoors, to an open lawn.

The boy gulped. After Kiba was Ino, followed by Sakura, then every other classmate right behind them. A chill went down his spine as one of them called out, "Follow em!"

He pitied the Uchiha right then and there, having to experience that every day.

"Choji!" The voice from Ino called out as the rotund boy appeared beside her, handing her a fistful of smoke bombs.

His nostrils oozed with an ashy aftertaste as Naruto rivaled in speed with the raven haired boy as she ran, yelling into both of their ears. "Let go of him Duckbutt, You're dragging him on the dirt!"

 _Yep_

Shikamaru's back was grinding the soil down, staining all his clothes. His mom wasn't going to be happy when he got home, but he didn't resist; letting the other boy do all the work as he stared out into the sky. Must've been an interesting picture to any bystander.

"It's fine loser!" The boy dragging him along scowled. Soon after the smoke of behind them dissipated and most of the fans reorienting themselves. Sasuke paled, "Where, Nara?!"

He sighed, thinking it over before he continued. "Hokage mountain."

Naruto beamed, recognition hitting her face as she continued with Hinata nodding to follow suit, "That place!"

It took a few more tries from a combination of things to get their pursuers off their backs. The impromptu party made a maze by going in and out different alleyways, making U-turns, breaking watering hoses, and even tipping the occasional trash pile. It was a _mess_ , and who ever that was going to clean everything up wasn't going to be happy.

Soon they reached a spot where a single oak tree stood out near a large rock a good ways behind the hokage monument. Sasuke dropped him off unceremoniously, crossing his arms together as he tapped his feet.

"Now, what do you have?"

Shikamaru rubbed his aching back before leaning against the tree in a daze. He raised a brow, "Just wait a bit. You have anything better to do?"

The Uchiha shuffled his feet, followed by the footsteps of their other classmates, the ones that were the fastest, or knew where they were going. Naruto huffed next to Hinata's nervous smile, as Choji landed by the rock, followed by Kiba, Shino, Ino, and Sakura giving him expectant looks.

"The adults have a clan meeting tonight." Sasuke admitted, the boy turned to scowl at the girls who commonly squealed whenever he was around.

"Our parents are having an adult night too." Ino replied at the unspoken question, hands on her hips. "We're free to do what we want."

"Hinata, don't you need to head home?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the sun's position for time.

"Y-yes. However f-father said I was allowed to stay out longer as long as I was around other clan children of the village." said girl answered with a hesitant smile, fingers poking each other. "I-I still need to get back by c-curfew."

Her words earned a hug from Naruto, as Choji asked with expectant eyes, "Wanna stay for supper, Hinata?"

"Y-yes. I'd like that… C-can I?"

"The more the merrier!" The blonde answered easily, playfully scowling at the Inuzuka, "I guess Kiba can stay too."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The earlier animosity between the blonde and Sasuke was forgotten as she went off attacking Kiba. The group of nine noticed it was more of a spar than the usual rough housing, to Shikamaru's relief.

"I will not say no if the invitation is extended to me. Why? Because I have been told to be more social by my clan."

"Yeah, Shino… You can stay." Shikamaru answered tiredly, continuing with a sigh. "What a drag."

The group started off less than a year ago. Incidents involving Naruto's escapades introduced Kiba, her class rivalry attracted Sasuke, and her interest with a few girly things with Hinata got Ino and Sakura to nudge their way in. Nowadays, he never had the free time anymore.

The smell of sizzling meat and vegetables wafted to his nose, his mouth salivated. Choji must've been cooking again. He stared at the clouds to keep the feeling of hunger from consuming him. Since the introduction of each other with their respective families, many of them had a weekly 'adults night'. The _Ino-Shika-Cho_ parents went out together with the _Inuzuka_ or _Aburame_ , sometimes both in one way or form. The _Hyuga_ and _Uchiha_ usually had more meetings or something and Sakura's parents were off on missions often, so she stuck around Ino to not get lonely.

It was 'lucky' that they socialized with each other.

He opened his eyes to spot the thunking sounds of kunai to the ground. Sasuke looked like he was trying some acrobatic move with throwing them at other kunai that were in the air and Ino and Sakura were just gazing at the Uchiha, an enamored sigh every few seconds were added to make the point. Hinata was trying to fix Naruto's Taijutsu form another few feet away and Kiba with Akamaru were laughing at the Uchiha's constant failure, once and awhile suggesting a different timing or something. Shino just sat by Choji, basking in the scene.

"Ow!" Soon, a shuriken (blunted) hit the whiskered blonde girl in the head, dropping her fighting stance to glare at Sasuke as Kiba laughed, grasping his belly for support. "What was that for?!"

"For being in the way." he huffed. Everyone present could practically see the ticking alarm clock as he continued, "I thought you were gonna become Hokage or something. What would happen if people knew you couldn't dodge a _slow_ moving shuriken?"

Naruto growled, "What?! Why you, I thought you were good at that stuff, boasting about it all the time 'ttebayo!"

"I am good." The two kids advanced towards each other, only to be stopped by Kiba.

"Get out of the way, dog breath."

The boy scowled at whoever said that. "I do _**NOT**_ smell!"

"Why don't you prove it. Take a shower this week." he shot back, making the boy gaped at Sasuke's words.

"I bath everyday!" Kiba countered, "You need to for a nose like mine."

"Just back off Kiba. Pigeon and I are gonna settle this once and for all." Naruto gently pushed Kiba out of the way and set up a fighting stance, academy style. The only style she knew.

"I'm a pigeon now?!"

Shikamaru sighed. "Like the last eighty or so times?"

It earned a bunch of shushing noise from the peanut gallery, and he rolled his eyes mumbling " troublesome" before going back to take a nap.

The fight started soon after, like always. This time the group noticed the two were being a _bit_ more serious than usual; Sasuake's thrown weapons were hurled with a little more bite, and Naruto opted to actually use the training sword strapped to her back. The two earned a lot of cheering from their prospective sides; with Kiba and Shino rooting for the blonde, while Ino and Sakura encouraged the Uchiha. Flying kunai and shuriken landed around the area as the two eventually got more bruised and banged up.

"Woah…." Choji trailed off as he raised his head at the noise as Shikamaru got himself up to see. Sasuke hands trailed together, forming hand seals. He pulled back in surprise.

 _A jutsu? Here?_

 _ **Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu.**_

A ball of blazing fire a size bigger than most of them put together spread out, reaching towards the blonde. Naruto stood fast, ready for the blow before she rushed to the side, dodging the attack to give the boy a blunted slash.

"Ehh?" Naruto's foot broke something below her, letting her body fall down the supposedly solid earth.

Just as her knees went in, the same cracking sound appeared under the Uchiha. "Wha?"

The fire jutsu immediately went out, but only after it's force broke down more pieces of the floor. Shikamaru stared long at his feet;dirt cracked like thin porcelain plates to reveal half eaten, rotted wood beneath. His body, like many others, dropped into free fall like the pair, falling down into the depths below.

Loud thuds soon followed, each one a sign that they all landed around each other. Shikamaru groaned as he got up, looking around to only see dim lighting inside concrete walls of a big room, one that could fit maybe five bedrooms in. He looked up to see nine holes in the ceiling as sunlight shone through the cracks.

"Ooow" Kiba whined, pushing himself off the pile of wood that covered him and his dog, cushioning the fall.

Shino grunted, knees shaking as he got to his feet.

"You ok, Ino?" Bruises on the pinkett's face showed revealed a worried look at her friend.

The girl nodded, rubbing her sore arms. "Yeah, you Sakura?" The girls checked gave each other a once over before nodding again.

"Where do you think we are, Akamaru?" The dog whined for an answer. Kiba frowned with worry.

Naruto knocked over some pieces of rock and picked up the Hyuga. "Hina-Chan."

"I-I'm fine." she quickly answered. The blonde nodded before rushing up to the Uchiha, and a loud smack echoed through the room as a comical red welt grew off the boy's head.

Sasuke rubbed his aching cranium. "What was that for, Dead-last?"

"Duckbutt! It's your fault!" The girl pointed with a stiff glare.

"How is it my fault?!"

"You used a jutsu."

"How was I supposed to know the _**SOLID ground**_ would break apart?"

"H-how do we get back up there?"

"We could find a way back. But where does it lead?"

"F-father's gonna be so angry."

"My mom's gonna put me in herding duty for this!"

 **[Bloodlust detected]**

That got Shikamaru to breathe deeply, setting him on alert. Eyes searched the dark room at an incredible pace, the sort that normally wouldn't be on a child. Finding nothing, the boy grit his teeth. "Scan"

 **[Danger Imminent]**

The Nara's pupils dilated, eyes focused at a far off corner, as luck would have it, one of his classmates was closest to there. "Kiba!"

A hand with sharp claws swiped down at the Inuzuka, missing by a hair as the boy and his dog ducked away. Concrete sparked on contact with it's nails. They growled in unison. "Yikes!"

"We don't know what it is." Choji called out with a serious look, quickly taking a kunai into his grip. The others followed suit with Naruto brandishing her sword. The creature was tall, lankey with long dark hair as glowing blue eyes pierced though it's head. It barely had any clothes on as ribs leaked out for all to see. Long, thick fingernails waggled and a slight fog grew from it's body.

Kiba rubbed his nose. "The hells this thing? It doesn't have a scent."

 **[Failed Yuki Subject Level 6]  
** **[Health: 65/65]  
** **[Chakra: 80/80**

"I'll handle it!" Naruto yelled, aggravated by the interruption. She quickly ran to a nearby crate, using it as a tool to jump. "We're having a thing, asshole!"

The creature skid back only to swing it's forearm in a wide arc. A blue trailing light followed it;s clawtips. Naruto's reactions were second to none in the academy despite being 'dead-last', she laid the flat edge of the blade to block the attack. Sparks flew just as the momentum launched the girl across the room.

Sasuke threw his kunais at the being for a distraction while Choji ran back to catch the girl in a rush. Kiba twisted his hips to go a running start, kunai drawn for a stab at its ribs. Shino on the hand sent a group of his bugs to try and eat away at its chakra.

 **[Failed Yuki Subject Level 6]  
** **[Health: 35/65]  
** **[Chakra: 40/80]**

It wasn't the moment to stand around doing nothing. Or that was what he could read from Ino's face as she fired off a few shurikens. Her timing was a bit too slow as the creature sidestepped into Kiba's blindside only for Hinata to use a bit of her Hyuga family taijutsu to block and counter a speeding pile driver like motion with it's arms.

"Damn it." Shikamaru muttered. Something about this itched his brain. The boy rubbed his temples, images of his nightmares he frequently had every week or so knocked him around. The sounds of clashing with the monster played a song in the background as he cursed. " **Inventory**."

He ran in to cut off the Inuzuka's advance, bits of blood and slices were on his face and arms as he blocked the boy from moving. He eyed Sakura to grab the tattooed boy along with Choji's bloodied knuckles. Naruto was holding off the creatures face, fangs an inch or two long skid across the training blade he made for her. Sasuke, the ever frenemy of her's rode on the creature's back, a pair of kunai stuck in its shoulder blades.

" **Equip**."

 **Shika-Den Uchigatana [Uncommon] [Blunt]**

 **Damage: 14**

 **Weight: Light-Medium**

 **One-handed : Two-handed**

With a shaky but oddly practiced ease, Shikamaru spun once to use the full weight of his body, slashing in an arc at the creature's arm and leg. In two loud thumps, dark red, if not black blood spilled bucketfuls.

He sighed. The monster howled in pain, crashing its body at the walls before slowly falling face first on top of a table made of plastic and stone.

"How did that happen?!"

"Thanks Shikamaru!"

"Coulda done it myself."

The Nara rolled his shoulders swinging the Uchigatana to wipe blood off the metal before sheathing the blade. The corner of his eyes had a window blink a few times, resulting in him pale slightly.

 **[Dungeon Activated]  
** **[Dungeon Start]  
** **[Lost Snake's Rooted Laboratory]  
** **Levels 5-10  
** **Requirements: None**

" _Loot all_ "

* * *

 **0000**

* * *

"So let me get this straight." Said Ino, staring right into his eyes, hands on her hips with a scowl on her face as she nearly shrieked, "You were born with some kind of super secret power that makes everything look like game to you? Like Shogi or something?"

"That's so cool!" Naruto cried, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

The Yamanaka gave out a disgusted sound, raising her hands up in surrender, "I'm telling everyone when we get out of here. There is no way this can be kept secret."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes with his arms crossed, making the room felt a little colder from the action. Sakura shuffled her feet nervously while Kiba prefered to scan over the room.

"Ino, Shika really doesn't think it should be known. You know how he is." Choji walked up with his hands up in a placating tone.

"Yeah but." It seemed to work as the girl gave a confused expression, her friend following suit. "But it's such a big thing. It's so _**important**_!"

"It's pretty much a Kekkei Genkai"

"I know right?! Think about it Shika" The girl nodded to the pinkette, her words growing in excitement as they spilled out of her mouth, "The Nara family's secret techniques-"

Shino nodded, a few steps away. "Now getting bolstered by the fact that their newest Clan Heir was born with a Kekkei Genkai."

"It would raise your clan to greatness." Sasuke continued in an airy tone. The boy stared long at the broken doorway in case something came in.

He only raised his brow at all of them. Didn't they get it? "And why would I do that?"

"Shikamaru! **You're the clan heir!** "

The boy scratched his back with an eye closed, nonplussed. "Yeah, so think about it for a second."

"I don't really get all the clan stuff. But having these cool powers would make things worse if people know about it right? Double if you're a kid."

"That is the entire reason why I don't want anyone to know, Naruto." Shikamaru answered easily. Understanding the issues that the girl didn't comprehend, at least not yet. "It's too risky."

"He would not be the Shikamaru we know. Why?"

The confused blonde wondered as Ino groaned, " _ **Why**_ Shino?"

"Because his abilities would far outweigh the potential losses if not used. It is a boon for the Shinobi, the Hokage." Shino continued just as the Uchiha interrupted.

"An instant jump to **ANBU**."

"Correct, Sasuke-san." The sunglasses wearing boy nodded along and without a sign of being miffed for it. Kiba's hands shook as he jumped to gather their attention.

"Not just that. Think of what'd they do if they knew about the scanning power, I don't know what it does but I heard you say it Shikamaru." The dog barked to facilitate the point. " _Torture and Interrogation_ department would nab you, or _Cryptology_ , You'd be sent to information gathering missions."

"Let's not forget the jump start on _arranged_ marriages." Shikamaru groaned at the implications.

"There's also danger too."

The entire group turned to the Hyuga. She squeaked in surprise. Ino shared a look with the others before prompting, "Hinata?"

"You know I get escorts everywhere I go right?" Everyone nodded. It was obvious since they first met the girl. As if everyone was afraid she'd die from tripping over a rock. Hinata bit her lip, "W-well, I heard that when I was really young, Shinobi from Kumo came to the village for peace talks."

They fell silent to the point it was almost like they didn't even breathe. That was something they _**certainly**_ knew about. Biggest news and rumor mill around. Someone said it for her when the girl clammed up at the thought. "And it was just a ruse to steal the Byakugan."

"Y-yeah. And now that Shikamaru has a Kekkei Genkai…"

 _He could be taken away too_ was left unsaid.

"Well…. Well we _**have**_ to tell someone!" Ino cried, face scrunching up with indecision.

"And we will. I'm not stupid." The Nara sighed. "...Just not yet. I still don't know enough about this power, so I thought once I got the hang of it, got far enough in the Shinobi forces, and reach chunin. I'd start telling my clan."

"They probably suspect something anyway." He shrugged tiredly.

The Yamanaka huffed, crossing her arms as Choji was seen with a smile. " _ **Fine**_. I'm gonna put you up to that."

"How are we gonna get outta here anyway?" Sakura asked the prevailing question that was on everyone's mind.

"Just accept it when it comes. It's a… Kekkei Genkai thing."

"Whatever it is, I'm in." Naruto screamed with a gleeful smile on her face. Her attitude slowly grew on Hinata and she followed with a nod. Sasuke crossed his arms with a smirk.

He looked over to Choji only to greet with a smile. He knew his best friend would follow him through and through, though Shikamaru wouldn't know if that was a blessing or a damning responsibility in the future. Ino dragged Sakura into agreeing with it after the fiasco. Kiba just chuckled, rubbing his nose as Shino shuffled his hands into his pockets.

"Alright." He said, throwing he sheathed blade at Naruto for her to use. A vanguard would be the best fit for her right now; she was the only one trained (self taught) in weapons. They needed to get out of there, and what else than start with who gets point lead? A large screen appeared in front of him to make the command.

 **[Create Party]**

The group gasped at the sight of their own panels appearing in front of them.

 **[Party Created]**

 **Congratulations!  
** **Party has been created.  
** **Please set your Loot and Experience configurations.  
** **Party Formation: Unsorted**

 **Party Name: [** _ **Academy Nine**_ **]  
** **Leader:  
** **Shikamaru Nara Lv. 8  
** **Health: 140/140  
** **Chakra: 115/115  
** **Stamina: 105/105**

 **Members:  
** **Uzumaki Naruto Lv. 1  
** **Health: 300/300  
** **Chakra: 450/450  
** **Stamina: 500/500**

 **Hyuga Hinata Lv. 5  
** **Health: 200/200  
** **Chakra: 180/180  
** **Stamina: 150/150**

 **Choji Akimichi Lv. 5  
** **Health: 200/200  
** **Chakra: 125/125  
** **Stamina: 180/180**

 **Yamanaka Ino Lv. 5  
** **Health: 140/140  
** **Chakra: 120/120  
** **Stamina: 115/115**

 **Inuzuka Kiba Lv. 5  
** **Health: 180/180  
** **Chakra: 135/135  
** **Stamina: 250/250**

 **Uchiha Sasuke Lv. 6  
** **Health: 180/180  
** **Chakra: 200/200  
** **Stamina: 160/160**

 **Aburame Shino Lv. 5  
** **Health: 160/160  
** **Chakra: 108/108  
** **Stamina: 100/100**

 **Haruno Sakura Lv. 5  
** **Health: 140/140  
** **Chakra: 95/95  
** **Stamina: 120/120**

 _Everyone was higher in stats compared to him..._

 **[Quest Open]  
** **[Quest Activated]  
**

 **The White Snake's first shedding**

 **Long Lasting Conspiracy**

 **Congratulations! Storyline: Curse of Hatred is now active**

 **** **Congratulations! Storyline: Sullied White Snake is now active**

 **** **Congratulations! Storyline: ROOT is now active**

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" _ **NANI?**_ "


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